HISTORIC 
NEW  YORK 


HISTORIC  NEW  YORK 


THE  HALF  MOON  PAPERS 


EDITED  BY  MAUD  WILDER  GOODWIN 

ALICE  CARRINGTON  ROYCE 
RUTH  PUTNAM  AND 
EVA  PALMER  BROWNELL 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

Cbe  fmlcfcerbocfcer  press 
1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1898 

BV 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


ttbe  Knickerbocker  press,  Dew 


iii 

CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I.  —  SLAVERY  IN  NEW  YORK         .        .         i 

Contents 

BY  EDWIN  VERNON  MORGAN,  A.M. 

II.  —  TAMMANY  HALL   .        .        .        .31 

BY  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS,  LL.D.,  L.H.D. 

III.  —  OLD  PRISONS  AND  PUNISHMENTS    .      81 

BY  ELIZABETH  DIKE  LEWIS. 

IV.  —  THE  NEW   YORK   PRESS  AND  ITS 
MAKERS    119 

BY  CHARLOTTE  M.  MARTIN  AND  BENJAMIN  ELLIS 
MARTIN 

V.  —  BOWLING  GREEN  .        .        .        .163 

BY  SPENCER  TRASK 

VI.  —  NEW  AMSTERDAM   FAMILY  NAMES 

AND   THEIR    ORIGIN       .            .            .      209 
BY  BERTHOLD  FERNOW 

VII.  —  OLD  TAVERNS  AND  POSTING  INNS.     241 

BY  ELISABETH  BROWN  CUTTING. 

VIII.  —  THE  DOCTOR  IN  OLD  NEW  YORK   .    277 

BY  F.  H.  BOSWORTH. 

IV 


Contents. 


Contents 


IX. — EARLY  SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS 

OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.        .        .319 

BY  EMMA  VAN  VECHTEN 

X. — THE  BATTLE  OF  HARLEM  HEIGHTS    .     345 

BY  WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD,  PH.D. 

XI. — ORIGIN  OF  BREUCKLEN  .        .        .    385 

BY  HARRINGTON  PUTNAM 

XII. — THE  "  NEUTRAL  GROUND  "      .        .    407 

BY  CHARLES  PRYER 


SLAVERY  IN  NEW  YORK 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.    NUMBER  I. 


first 

Slaves 

in  Hew 

Umeteta 

t>am 


SLAVERY  IN  NEW  YORK, 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  NEW  YORK  CITY. 
BY  EDWIN  VERNON  MORGAN,  A.M. 

Establishment  of  Slavery. — In  1625  or 
1626,  the  first  negro  slaves  were  brought  to 
New  Amsterdam,  the  settlement  which  later 
became  the  City  of  New  York.  Among  them 
were  Paul  d'AngoIa,  Simon  Congo,  Anthony 
Portuguese,  John  Francisco,  and  seven  other 
Africans,  who  were  probably  captured  at  sea.* 
Two  years  later  three  negro  women  arrived, 
closely  followed  by  others  who  are  spoken  of 
as  "Angola  slaves,  thievish,  lazy,  and  useless 
trash."  These  slaves,  apparently,  were  the 
only  ones  introduced  prior  to  the  erection  of 
patroonships  and  colonies  in  1629,  when  the 
West  India  Company  publicly  promised  to 
"use  their  endeavors  to  supply  the  colonists 
with  as  many  Blacks  as-  they  conveniently 
can,"  a  promise  which,  from  several  causes, 
was  not  fulfilled  until  the  arrival  in  June,  1646, 


Slavery  in  flew  !2orfe 


IRepott  of 

tbe  Statcss 

General 

1647 


of  the  Amandare,  the  first  slave  ship  to 
New  Netherland  whose  name  is  recorded. 
At  Barbadoes,  where  the  vessel  touched, 
"three  negro  wenches  were  spirited  away," 
but  the  remainder  of  the  cargo  was  sold  in 
New  Amsterdam  for  pork  and  peas.  "  Some- 
thing wonderful  was  to  be  performed  with 
them,  but  they  just  dropped  through  the 
fingers."  What  slaves  were  brought  and 
whence  they  came  is  not  stated. 

On  May  27,  1647,  a  committee  of  the  States- 
General  of  Holland  made  a  full  report  on  the 
affairs  of  the  West  India  Company,  in  the 
course  of  which  it  mentioned  the  fact  that, 
in  consequence  of  the  unsettled  condition  of 
Brazil,  "The  Slave  Trade  hath  long  laid  dor- 
mant to  the  great  damage  of  the  Company." 
In  regard  to  New  Netherland,  it  said  :  "That 
country  is  considered  to  be  the  most  fruitful 
of  all  within  your  High  Mightinesses'  Juris- 
diction. .  .  .  The  granting  of  Freedoms 
and  Privileges  hath  indeed  induced  some  Pa- 
troons  and  Colonists  to  undertake  agriculture 
there  ;  but  as  the  produce  cannot  be  sold  any- 
where except  in  the  adjacent  places  belonging 
to  the  English,  who  are  themselves  sufficiently 
supplied,  those  planters  have  not  received  a 
return  for  their  labor  and  outlay.  With  a 
view,  then,  to  give  greater  encouragement  to 
agriculture,  and  consequently  to  population, 
we  should  consider  it  highly  advantageous 


Slavery  in  IRew 


that  a  way  be  opened  to  allow  them  to  export 
their  produce  even  to  Brazil,  in  their  own  ves- 
sels, under  certain  duties  .  .  .  ;  and  to 
trade  it  off  there,  and  to  carry  slaves  back  in 
return.  ...  By  this  means,  not  only 
would  Brazil  be  supplied  with  provisions  at  a 
cheaper  rate,  but  New  Netherland  would,  by 
slave  labor,  be  more  extensively  cultivated 
than  it  has  hitherto  been,  because  the  agricul- 
tural laborers,  who  are  conveyed  thither  at 
great  expense  to  the  Colonists,  sooner  or  later 
apply  themselves  to  trade  and  neglect  agricul- 
ture altogether.  Slaves,  on  the  other  hand, 
being  brought  and  maintained  there  at  a  cheap 
rate,  various  other  descriptions  of  produce 
would  be  raised."11  In  accordance  with  this 
report  the  States-General  resolved  upon  Feb- 
ruary 10,  1648,  that  the  people  of  New  Nether- 
land  "be  allowed  to  export  their  fish,  flour, 
and  produce,  ...  to  Brazil,  in  private 
or  the  Company's  ships,  .  .  .  and  in  re- 
turn to  export,  at  certain  duty  from  Brazil,  to 
New  Netherland  and  not  elsewhere,  as  much 
merchandise,  such  as  Slaves."  Four  years 
later  the  slave  trade  to  Africa  direct  was  also 
opened,  but  with  results  so  meagre  that  Fiscal 
Van  Dyck  wrote  on  September  18,  1652,  "No 
requests  for  Negroes  has  been  presented  from 
Patroons  or  Colonists  hereto  my  knowledge." 
The  burghers  of  New  Amsterdam  petitioned 
Governor  Stuyvesant  in  May,  1660,  for  "  per- 


Erporta 
1660 


Slavers  in  flew  H>orfe 


privateers 
1642s 
1652 


mission  to  trade  free  and  unobstructed  in  Ship 
or  Ships,  along  the  whole  of  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,"  since  those  who  would  execute 
"with  Skipper  or  Merchant  going  to  that 
country  a  Draft  of  Partnership,  which  is  beset 
and  pinched  by  such  precise  conditions"  (as 
those  which  at  present  exist)  "would  risk 
their  lives  and  goods,  and  at  best  gain  noth- 
ing." Upon  January  6,  1664,  the  Directors 
sent  word  to  Stuyvesant  that  they  had  en- 
tered into  a  contract  with  Symen  Gilde,  of  the 
ship  Gideon,  to  take  in  a  good  cargo  of  slaves 
at  Loango,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  to  fetch 
them,  by  way  of  Cura^oa,  to  New  Netherland, 
and  that  Amsterdam  was  a  partner  for  a  fourth 
of  the  cargo.  Though  the  ship  was  due  the 
coming  June  or  July,  "with  about  300  slaves 
aboard,"  she  did  not  arrive  until  a  few  days 
before  the  Dutch  surrendered  to  the  English.1 
During  the  war  between  Spain  and  the  Uni- 
ted Netherlands,  the  privateers  which  swarmed 
among  the  Caribbean  Islands  and  along  the 
Spanish  Main  occasionally  brought  prizes  into 
New  Amsterdam.  After  the  peace,  hostilities 
were  carried  on  between  Spain  and  France. 
To  privateers  under  the  French  flag,  New 
Amsterdam  was  a  neutral  port  where  captive 
negroes  and  other  prize  goods  were  sold.  In 
1642  the  La  Garce  brought  in  a  few  slaves, 
and  in  1652  a  lot  of  forty-five  negroes  came  in 
on  another  privateer,  which  had  captured  them 


Slavery  in  flew  10orfc 


from  a  Spaniard.  A  great  part  of  the  slaves 
who  reached  New  Amsterdam,  however,  were 
imported  either  by  private  merchants  in  Hol- 
land, under  a  special  permit  from  the  Company, 
or  by  the  West  India  Company  itself.  "We 
are  resolved,"  wrote  the  Directors  at  Amster- 
dam in  1 66 1,  "not  only  that  slaves  shall  be 
kept  in  New  Netherland,  as  we  have  hereto- 
fore ordered,  but  that  they  shall  moreover  be 
exported  to  the  English  and  other  neighbours." 
In  1644,  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony  received 
from  Governor  Kieft,  for  four  years,  a  young 
girl  belonging  to  the  Company,  "daughter  of 
great  Peter,  a  black  man,"  who,  after  the  ex- 
piration of  the  specified  time,  "if  yet  alive," 
was  to  be  returned.  The  Directors  and  Coun- 
cil resolved,  in  May,  1664,  to  pay  a  certain 
Captain  Willet  "in  Negroes  at  such  price  as 
may  be  agreed  on  for  a  quantity  of  pork  and 
beef  equal  to  600  Ibs."  Two  months  later 
they  desired  "to  negotiate  a  loan  of  five  or 
six  thousand  guilders  in  Wampum  for  the 
Honorable  Company,"  to  be  paid  "either  in 
good  negroes  or  other  goods,"  although  in 
November,  1661,  they  had  been  sufficiently 
prosperous  to  present  New  Amsterdam  with 
three  negro  slaves.4 

Civil  Status  of  Negro  and  Indian  Slaves. 
— The  change  of  government  which  occurred 
in  1664  did  not  materially  affect  the  status  of 
negro  slaves.  The  ' '  Duke's  Laws, "  published 


Coma 
pane's 
police 

1661 


Slavery  in  IRew 


Civil 
Status 
after 

1604 


in  March,  1664,  declared:  "No  Christian  shall 
be  kept  in  Bond-Slavery,  except  such  who 
shall  be  judged  thereto  by  Authority,  or  such 
as  willingly  have  sold  or  shall  sell  themselves." 
Fearful  that  this  provision  might  be  misunder- 
stood, the  framers  added  hastily:  "Nothing  in 
this  law  shall  be  to  the  prejudice  of  Master  or 
Dame  who  have  or  shall  by  indenture  take 
Servants  for  a  term  of  years  or  for  life."  B  In 
the  amended  laws,  published  about  1674,  this 
provision  appeared:  "This  law  shall  not  set 
at  liberty  any  Negro  or  Indian  Slave,  who  shall 
have  turned  Christian  after  they  had  been 
bought  by  any  person,"  a  declaration  which 
implied,  but  did  not  state,  that  inhabitants  of 
New  York  might  be  born  slaves.  An  act  to 
encourage  the  baptism  of  negro,  Indian,  and 
mulatto  slaves,  passed  October  24,  1 706,  estab- 
lished, however,  the  latter  point.  It  provided 
that  every  negro,  Indian,  mulatto,  and  mustee 
should  follow  the  state  and  condition  of  the 
mother  and  be  adjudged  a  slave  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  whatsoever.  Slavery,  therefore, 
might  exist  by  reason  of  birth,  voluntary  sale, 
or  by  way  of  punishment  for  crime." 

The  civil  position  of  a  slave  before  the  law 
was  determined  by  a  number  of  acts,  one  of 
which,  relating  to  minor  offences  and  dated 
November  27,  1702,  allowed  masters  to  "  pun- 
ish their  slaves  for  their  crimes  at  discretion, 
not  extending  to  life  or  member."  An  order 


in  IRew  H?orfe 


of  the  corporation  of  New  York,  dated  March, 
1736,  suggests  the  manner  in  which  the  right 
was  used.  It  declared  that  citizens  had  free 
licence  to  send  to  the  house  of  correction  all 
servants  and  slaves,  there  to  be  kept  at  hard 
labor,  and  punished  according  to  the  direction 
of  any  one  justice,  with  the  consent  of  the 
master  or  mistress.  Serious  offences,  such  as 
murder,  rape,  or  arson,  were  tried  by  a  court 
peculiarly  composed.' 

By  an  act  of  December  10,  1712,  three  jus- 
tices and  five  of  the  principal  freeholders  of 
the  county  constituted  judge  and  jury,  seven 
making  a  quorum.  For  this  usual  jury  the 
jury  of  twelve  might  be  substituted,  provided 
the  master  so  desired  and  paid  the  jury  charges 
of  nine  shillings.  The  prosecution  furnished 
the  accusation,  to  which  the  offender  was 
obliged  to  plead,  apparently  without  the  aid 
of  counsel.  How  effectively  an  ignorant  slave 
would  conduct  his  defence  one  can  imagine. 
In  case  of  conviction  the  sentence  was  imme- 
diate death,  "in  such  manner  and  with  such 
circumstances  as  the  aggravation  or  enormity 
of  the  crime,"  in  the  judgment  of  the  judges, 
required.  On  March  11,  1684,  a  barn  belong- 
ing to  Jan  Nagel,  in  Harlem,  was  burned  with 
twelve  head  of  cattle.  It  was  fired  by  his 
negro  slave,  who  ran  away,  and  was  found 
next  day  "hanging  to  a  tree  at  the  Little  Hill 
by  the  common."  The  Mayor  was  asked 


puniebs 
mente 


10 


in  Hew 


Ueatf* 

mons 

Of  Slaves 


what  should  be  done  with  the  body,  and  he 
ordered  that  it  should  be  hanged  on  a  gibbet. 
But  the  magistrates,  fearing  the  effect  of  such 
a  sight  upon  "their  children,  who  were  in  the 
habit  of  going  daily  to  the  fields  and  woods, 
and  who  might  be  terrified  thereby,"  cut  it 
down  and  burned  it* 

By  the  act  of  1702,  in  a  special  class  of 
criminal  cases,  the  usual  practice  of  English 
law  was  also  strangely  set  aside.  "Where 
slaves  are  the  property  of  Christians  and  can- 
not, without  great  loss  to  their  masters  or 
mistresses,  be  subjected  in  all  cases  criminal 
to  the  strict  rules  of  the  laws  of  England,"  a 
slave  guilty  of  larceny  of  not  more  than  £*, 
suffered  corporal  punishment  at  the  discretion 
of  any  one  justice  of  the  peace ;  his  master, 
meantime,  making  good  the  stolen  property. 
Another  section  of  the  same  act  declared  that 
the  evidence  of  a  slave  was  not  receivable  in 
any  case,  civil  or  criminal,  against  a  freeman. 
In  cases  of  "plotting  or  confederacy  among 
themselves,  either  to  run  away,  or  to  kill  or 
destroy  their  masters  or  mistresses,"  of  arson, 
or  the  killing  of  their  owner's  cattle,  the  testi- 
mony of  one  against  another  was  nevertheless 
admitted. 

Turning  from  the  civil  disabilities  to  the 
civil  privileges,  we  find  that  although  even 
freedmen  were  forbidden  to  "  hold  any 
houses,  lands,  tenements,  or  hereditaments," 


Slavers  in  Hew  H>orfc 


and  all  persons  were  forbidden  "to  trade 
with  any  slave  either  in  buying  or  selling, 
without  leave  of  the  Master  or  Mistress,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  treble  the  value  of  the  arti- 
cle traded  for,"  the  like  restriction  was  not 
laid  on  the  possession  by  a  slave  of  other  kinds 
of  property.  By  the  Game  Law  of  November 
10,  1702,  a  slave  received  £3  for  killing  a 
wolf  and  308.  for  killing  a  whelp,  in  Suffolk, 
Queens,  or  Kings  Counties,  the  bounty  going 
apparently  into  his  own  pocket  On  Sep- 
tember 5,  1717,  Sam,  late  a  negro  slave  of 
George  Norton,  deceased,  complained  to  the 
Governor  that  Ebenezer  Wilson  detained 
money  and  a  negro  willed  him  by  Norton. 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  petition : 

"George  Norton  in  his  life  time  by  his  last 
Will  and  Testament  in  Writing  gave  to  your 
poor  Petitioner  his  Freedom  from  Slavery  and 
thirty  pounds  in  Money,  as  also  one  Negro 
Man  named  Robin ;  But  Mr.  Ebenezer  Willson, 
the  Executor  of  George  Norton  Deceased,  will 
neither  pay  your  poor  Petitioner  the  Thirty 
Pound  nor  let  him  have  said  Negro  Robin, 
although  he  has  not  (as  your  Excellency's  Pe- 
titioner is  inform'd)  Inventary'd  said  Negro 
Robin  as  a  part  of  said  George  Norton's  Es- 
tate. And  yet  in  the  Winter  when  said  Negro 
wants  Cloaths  he  is  forced  to  come  to  your 
poor  Petitioner  for  a  Supply.  And  so  also 
when  he  is  sick  or  lame  he  has  come  to  your 


Civil 

privileges 


12 


Slavers  in  flew 


Civil 
Suite 


said  Petitioner  several  Times  and  lain  upon 
him  for  a  month  at  a  time.  But  so  soon  as  he 
is  well  and  able  to  work  Mr.  Willson  takes 
him  away  and  Imploys  him  in  his  own  Ser- 
vice. 

"Wherefore  your  Poor  Petitioner  humbly 
pray  that  your  Excellency  wou'd  be  favourably 
pleased  to  take  his  suffering  Case  into  your 
Consideration  and  find  out  some  way  (as  in 
your  great  Wisdom  you  shall  see  meet)  to  in- 
duce said  Executor  to  do  Right  and  Justice  to 
your  Poor  Petitioner  in  the  case  set  forth."  " 

One  case  is  recorded,  if  not  more,  where  a 
slave  brought  suit  against  his  master.  June 
25,  1710,  Joris  Elsworth,  of  New  York  City, 
complained  to  Governor  Hunter,  that  his  ne- 
gro slave  Will,  claiming  to  be  a  freeman,  had 
brought  suit  against  him  for  wages.  The  case 
was  tried  before  a  jury  at  a  session  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  province,  and  a  verdict 
was  given  for  the  defendant,  against  whom  it 
is  doubtful  whether  a  slave  could  have  brought 
suit  on  any  other  plea  than  the  one  offered.10 

Regulations  Governing  Slave  Life.— 
The  main  interest  of  the  slave  code  turns  on 
the  regulations  to  prevent  conspiracy  and  se- 
dition. The  fear  of  servile  risings  was  con- 
stantly in  the  minds  of  our  ancestors.  Their 
savage  legislation  governing  slave  life  is  only 
intelligible  in  the  light  of  this  fact.  The  cor- 
poration of  New  York  passed  an  ordinance,  as 


Slavery  in  IRew 


early  as  March  15,  1684,  that  "No  Negro  or 
Indian  Slaves,  above  the  number  of  four,  shall 
meet  together  on  the  Lord's  day,  or  at  any 
other  time,  at  any  place,  from  their  master's 
service."  They  were  not  to  go  armed,  more- 
over, "with  guns,  swords,  clubs,  staves,  or 
any  other  kind  of  weapon,"  on  penalty  of  re- 
ceiving ten  lashes  at  the  whipping-post.  "An 
Act  for  the  Regulation  of  Slaves,"  passed  No- 
vember 27,  1702,  which  extended  these  regu- 
lations through  the  colony,  reduced  the  number 
allowed  to  meet  from  four  to  three.  The  de- 
sired end  was  not  even  then  attained.  Four 
years  later  Governor  Cornbury  was  obliged 
to  order  the  justices  of  the  peace  of  Kings 
County  to  take  the  proper  methods  for  seizing 
and  apprehending  all  such  negroes  as  had  as- 
sembled themselves  in  a  riotous  manner  or 
had  absconded  from  their  masters;  and  six 
years  later,  when  William  Hallet,  Jr.,  of  New- 
town,  in  Queens  County,  his  wife  and  five 
children,  were  murdered  by  a  negro  and  an 
Indian  slave,  the  Governor  was  obliged  to 
assent  to  another  act  for  preventing  the  con- 
spiracy of  slaves.11 

The  negro  plot  of  1712,  the  predecessor  of 
the  famous  plot  of  1741,  necessitated  yet  an- 
other,— "An  Act  for  Preventing,  Suppressing 
and  Punishing  the  Conspiracy  and  Insurrection 
of  Negroes  and  other  Slaves,"  passed  Decem- 
ber 10,  1712, — which  reiterated  former  provi- 


mcts 

•Relating  to 
Slaves 


Slavery  in  IRew  H>orfe 


Bets 

•(Relating  to 

Slaves 


sions  and  emphasized  special  points.  By  the 
act  of  1702,  no  person  could  employ,  harbor, 
conceal,  or  entertain  at  his  house,  outhouse, 
or  plantation,  slaves  other  than  his  own 
without  their  master's  consent.  By  the  latter 
act,  any  one  who  knew  of  their  entertainment 
and  did  not  report  it  must  pay  £2  or  be  im- 
prisoned. The  master  who  did  not  prosecute 
the  employer  or  host  paid  double  the  sum  that 
the  employer  or  host  should  have  forfeited. 
On  October  27,  1730,  the  Assembly  passed 
"An  Act  for  the  more  effectual  preventing 
and  punishing  the  Conspiracy  and  Insurrec- 
tion of  Negroes  and  other  Slaves;  for  the  bet- 
ter Regulating  them,  and  for  Repealing  the 
Acts  therein  mentioned,  relating  thereto." 
This,  the  last  and  most  comprehensive  act 
relating  to  slaves  passed  in  New  York  before 
the  Revolution,  announced,  however,  no  new 
principles,  but  contented  itself  with  re-enact- 
ing former  statutes.1" 

The  corporation  of  New  York  was  not  be- 
hind the  Assembly  in  taking  measures  to 
prevent  conspiracies  and  passed  several  ordi- 
nances to  reinforce  the  four  acts  last  men- 
tioned. As  Sunday  was  the  slaves'  holiday, 
and  a  favorite  time  for  the  hatching  of  plots, 
the  Sunday  laws  were  intended  to  prevent 
conspiracies  quite  as  much  as  to  enforce  the 
fourth  commandment.  "  Servile  labouring  and 
working,"  riding  a  horse  through  any  street  or 


Slavery  in  IRew 


on  the  common,  "rude  and  unlawful  sports," 
and  "fetching  any  water  other  than  from  the 
next  well  or  pump  to  the  place  of  his  abode/' 
and  crossing  from  New  York  to  Brooklyn 
without  a  permission  were  forbidden.  On 
other  days  of  the  week  no  slave  above 
fourteen  years  could  appear  an  hour  after 
sunset  in  the  streets  "within  the  fortifica- 
tions, or  in  any  other  place  on  the  south  side 
of  the  fresh  water,"  without  a  lantern  and 
lighted  candle,  "so  as  the  light  thereof  may 
be  plainly  seen."  Slaves  more  advanced  in 
years,  since  they  were  in  the  habit,  when 
riding  their  masters'  horses  to  water,  to  go 
prancing  through  the  streets  to  the  danger 
of  passers-by,  were  forbidden  "to  ride  in  a 
disorderly  fashion."  They  were  also  forbidden 
to  clip  household  plate,  to  gamble  with  any 
sort  of  money,  to  assault  or  strike  "any  free- 
man or  woman  professing  Christianity,"  to 
curse,  swear,  or  "speak  impudently  to  any 
Christian,"  to  drive  any  sort  of  cart  without  a 
permit  from  the  Mayor,  except  a  brewer's  drag, 
or  to  sell  oysters,  boiled  Indian  corn,  or  any 
kind  of  fruit.13 

Restraining  measures,  such  as  those  em- 
bodied in  the  acts  and  ordinances  just  men- 
tioned, were  made  necessary  by  the  two 
servile  conspiracies,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made  as  the  Negro  Plots.  The 
earlier,  that  of  1712,  broke  out  on  a  Sunday 


Hots 

•(Relating  to 
Slaves 


i6 


Slavers  in  flew  H>orfe 


plots 
I7l2«mi 


night  in  April,  "about  the  going  down  of 
the  moon,"  when  a  large  body  of  slaves,  who 
thought  themselves  ill-treated  by  their  mas- 
ters, armed  with  guns  or  rude  weapons,  met 
in  an  orchard,  set  fire  to  an  outhouse,  and  as- 
saulted those  who  came  running  up  to  quench 
the  flames.  In  this  way  they  killed  nine  men 
and  wounded  six  others  before  the  alarm  was 
given  by  the  firing  of  a  great  gun  from  the 
fort,  and  the  soldiers  dispatched  by  the  Gov- 
ernor appeared  and  put  them  to  flight.  The 
militia,  by  beating  the  forests  at  the  northern 
end  of  Manhattan,  aided  by  sentries  posted  at 
the  fords,  succeeded  next  day  in  capturing  all 
the  conspirators  but  six,  who,  in  their  despair, 
killed  themselves.  Of  the  remainder,  twenty- 
one  were  executed  either  by  hanging,  burn- 
ing, or  by  being  broken  on  the  wheel.  Many 
arrested  for  supposed  complicity  in  the  plot 
were  afterwards  released  for  want  of  evidence 
to  prove  their  guilt.14 

The  second,  or  "Great  Negro  Plot,"  of 
March,  1741,  though  much  more  serious  both 
in  its  nature  and  results,  producing  deeds 
"which  almost  parallel  those  done  in  the  evil 
days  of  the  Salem  witchcraft,"  was  yet,  tech- 
nically, scarcely  a  plot  at  all.  Undoubtedly  a 
considerable  body  of  discontented  blacks — 
especially  those  lately  arrived  from  Africa — 
vaguely  hoped  and  planned  for  the  murder  of 
their  masters.  But  there  is  little  reason  to 


Slavery  tn  Bew  H?orfe 


suppose  that  the  negroes  who  acted  as  do- 
mestic servants,  and  who  constituted  the  mass 
of  the  slave  population,  ever  contemplated, 
much  less  deliberately  planned,  a  general  ser- 
vile insurrection.  In  New  York,  as  in  Salem, 
fear  exaggerated  the  danger. 

The  first  signs  of  the  plot  appeared  during 
the  weeks  between  the  twenty-eighth  of  Feb- 
ruary and  the  eleventh  of  April,  when  nine 
fires  followed  in  such  quick  succession  that 
they  seemed  certain  to  be  of  incendiary 
origin.  Meantime  the  keeper  of  a  low  tavern, 
his  wife,  two  negroes,  and  Mary  Barton,  an 
indentured  servant  of  doubtful  reputation, 
were  arrested  x>n  a  charge  of  receiving  stolen 
goods.  A  proclamation,  offering  a  reward 
of  ;£ioo  and  a  full  pardon  to  whoever 
would  give  information  concerning  the  sup- 
posed plot,  was  read  to  Mary,  who,  seeing 
a  loophole  through  which  to  effect  her  own 
escape,  suddenly  remembered  that  the  negroes 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  at  her  mas- 
ter's house  had  planned  to  destroy  the  city 
and  the  fort,  after  which  they  would  make  her 
master  king,  and  one  of  themselves  governor. 
On  the  strength  of  her  unsupported  testimony 
a  veritable  reign  of  terror  began.  Citizens 
removed  their  valuables  from  beyond  the  city 
limits,  and  every  black  man  not  vouched  for 
by  a  master  in  good  repute  was  lodged  in  jail. 
The  catalogue  of  victims  included  not  only 


Great 
negro 
plot 


i8 


Slavers  in  Hew  lljorfe 


•Religious 
Status 


one  hundred  and  fifty-four  negroes  impris- 
oned, of  whom  fourteen  were  burned,  eigh- 
teen hanged,  two  gibbeted,  and  seventy-one 
transported,  but  twenty-four  whites,  four  of 
whom  were  executed.  Among  the  latter  was 
a  schoolmaster  named  Ury,  suspected  of  being 
either  a  non-juring  Episcopalian  or  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest.  The  magistrates,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  an  old  unrepealed  law  which  for- 
bade a  priest  to  come  into  the  province, 
condemned  Ury  on  the  double  count  of  being 
implicated  in  the  plot  and  of  administering  the 
rites  of  his  religion.  When  Mary  became  bold- 
er and  accused  persons  of  quality  and  condi- 
tion, men  saw  that  the  panic  must  be  stopped. 
But  this  was  not  done  until  a  day  for  general 
thanksgiving  had  been  set  apart.1* 

The  Religious  Status  of  Slaves. — In  con- 
trast to  the  cruel  punishments  of  the  negro 
plots  it  is  pleasant  to  find  that,  since  negroes 
and  Indians  were  looked  upon  by  our  fore- 
fathers as  children  of  the  devil,  efforts  were 
early  made  to  Christianize  them.  But  the 
Dutch  were  not  zealous  in  this  work.  Not 
until  December,  1660,  does  there  appear 
among  the  instructions  given  by  the  home 
government  to  the  Council  for  Foreign  Planta- 
tions: "You  are  most  especially  to  take  an 
especial  care  of  the  propogacon  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  several  Forraine  Plantations.  .  .  . 
And  you  are  to  consider  how  each  of  the  Na- 


In  flew  H?orfe 


tives,  or  such  as  are  purchased  by  you  from 
other  parts  to  be  servants  or  Slaves,  may  be 
best  invited  to  the  Christian  Faith,  and  be 
made  capable  of  being  baptized  thereunto."  1S 
Upon  the  occupation  of  New  Netherland  by 
the  English  the  work  went  on  with  greater 
spirit.  The  "  Duke's  Laws  "  required  all  con- 
stables and  overseers  to  urge  the  inhabitants 
to  inform  their  children  and  servants  in  mat- 
ters of  religion.  The  instructions  of  James  II., 
William  III.,  and  Queen  Anne  to  the  Royal 
Governors  of  New  York,  bade  them,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Council,  "to  find  out  the 
best  means  to  facilitate  and  encourage  the 
conversion  of  Negroes  and  Indians  to  the 
Christian  religion."  Governor  Dongan  re- 
ported that  the  task  was  difficult.  "  It  is  the 
endeavor  of  all  persons  here  to  bring  up  their 
children  and  servants  in  that  opinion  which 
themselves  profess  ;  but  this  I  observe,  that 
they  take  no  care  of  the  conversion  of  their 
Slaves."  Twelve  years  later,  in  1699,  it  was 
still  found  impracticable.  Governor  Bello- 
mont  wrote  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  :  "  A  Bill 
for  facilitating  the  conversion  of  Indians  and 
Negroes  (which  the  King's  instructions  re- 
quire should  be  endeavored  to  be  passed), 
would  not  go  down  with  the  Assembly  ;  they 
having  a  notion  that  the  Negroes  being  con- 
verted to  Christianity  would  emancipate  them 
from  their  slavery,  and  loose  them  from  their 


E>anger  of 

Conversion 

1600 


20 


Slavery  in  Itew 


Convcrs 

eion  of 

Slaves 

1706 


service."  "  On  October  24,  1706,  "An  Act  to 
encourage  the  Baptizing  of  Negro,  Indian  and 
Mulatto  Slaves  "  finally  passed  the  Assembly, 
and  later  received  the  Royal  assent.  It  dis- 
tinctly stated  that  the  baptism  of  a  slave 
should  not  set  him  free.  The  preamble  and 
the  first  section  read:  "Whereas  divers  of 
Her  Majesty's  good  Subjects,  Inhabitants  of 
this  Colony,  now  are,  and  have  been  willing 
that  such  Negro,  Indian  and  Mulatto  Slaves, 
who  belong  to  them,  and  desire  the  same, 
should  be  baptized,  but  are  deterred  and  hin- 
dered thereof,  by  reason  of  a  groundless  opin- 
ion that  hath  spread  itself  in  this  Colony,  that 
by  the  baptizing  of  such  Negro,  Indian  or 
Mulatto  Slaves,  they  would  be  free,  and  ought 
to  be  set  at  liberty.  In  order,  therefore,  to 
put  an  end  to  all  such  doubts  and  scruples  as 
have,  or  hereafter  at  any  time  may  arise,  about 
the  same;  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Governor, 
Council  and  Assembly,  etc.,  that  the  Baptizing 
of  any  Negro,  Indian  or  Mulatto  Slave,  shall 
not  be  any  cause  or  Reason  for  the  setting 
them  or  any  of  them,  at  Liberty."  >8  This  Act 
soothed  the  fears  of  masters,  and,  as  the  church 
registers  attest,  baptisms  became  frequent. 
The  Rev.  Elias  Neau,  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts,  had  established  a  school  for 
the  religious  instruction  of  slaves,  three  years 
before,  in  New  York  City.  The  slaves  met  on 


Slavery  in  IRew 


the  evenings  of  "  Wednesday  and  Friday  and 
Sundays  after  Church,"  on  the  upper  floor  of 
Mr.  Neau's  house.  None  of  the  churches 
could  be  used  for  a  schoolroom,  "  because  of 
keeping  them  clean  for  the  congregation,"  and 
there  was  "no  other  public  building  conven- 
ient or  capacious  enuff."  The  Rev.  John 
Sharp,  seeing  that  the  existing  arrangements 
were  inconvenient,  proposed,  therefore,  in 
1713,  that  a  catechizing  chapel  be  erected, 
"which  would  give  a  favorable  turn  to  the 
whole  affair."  His  plan  seems  to  have  been 
adopted. 

From  Mr.  Sharp,  also,  we  learn  something 
in  regard  both  to  the  marriage  and  to  the 
burial  of  slaves.  The  marriages  were  arranged, 
he  tells  us,  by  mutual  consent,  without  the 
blessing  of  Church.  Husband  and  wife  often 
belonged  to  different  families,  and  after  mar- 
riage were  sold  many  miles  apart.  Polygamy, 
therefore,  was  frequent.  After  baptism  a  few 
consented  to  break  their  "Negro  marriages" 
and  "marry  a  Christian  spouse."  However 
highly  colored  these  statements  may  be,  it  is 
certainly  true  that  the  marriage  of  a  slave  was 
not  made  legal  before  April  9,  1813.  The  law 
enacted  on  that  day  reads:  "All  marriages 
contracted  or  to  be  contracted  hereafter, 
wherein  one  or  more  of  the  parties  were  or 
may  be  Slaves,  shall  be  considered  valid  as 
though  the  parties  thereto  were  free  ;  The 


^Carriages 
of  Slaves 


22 


Kurial  of 
Slaves 


children  of  such  a  marriage  to   be   deemed 
legitimate."  10 

The  burial  of  slaves  was  first  made  a  sub- 
ject of  legislation  on  October  23,  1684.  The 
text  of  the  act  is  not  accessible,  and  we  are 
not  able,  therefore,  to  state  its  provisions. 
They  probably  forbade  the  private  burial  of 
slaves,  for  we  find  that  Mees  Hoogeboon,  of  Al- 
bany, was  fined  twelve  shillings  "for  interring 
his  negro  in  a  private  and  suspicious  manner." 
In  October,  1722,  the  Corporation  of  New  York 
ordered  that  all  negro  and  Indian  slaves  dying 
within  the  city  should  be  buried  by  daylight. 
In  1731,  in  1748,  and  in  1763  this  order  was 
reissued,  with  the  additional  provision  that 
not  more  than  twelve  slaves  should  attend 
any  funeral  under  penalty  of  public  whipping. 
On  these  occasions  no  pall,  gloves,  or  favors 
were  to  be  used.  A  slave  who  held  a  pall  or 
wore  gloves  or  favors  was  to  be  publicly 
whipped,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Mayor  or  of 
that  one  of  the  Corporation  before  whom  he 
had  been  convicted.  These  regulations  were 
probably  made  to  prevent  the  conspiracy  of 
slaves  as  much  as  for  any  other  purpose.  The 
fear  of  servile  risings,  as  we  have  remarked 
elsewhere,  is  the  key-note  to  the  slave  code  of 
New  York,  as  well  as  of  the  other  colonies. 
Mr.  Sharp  suggests  a  second  reason,  when  he 
remarks:  "  Slaves  are  buried  in  the  Common 
by  those  of  their  country  and  complexion 


in  mew 


without  the  office.     On  the  contrary,  heathen- 
ish rites  are  performed  over  them."  "° 

Indian  Slavery. — Both  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  Indian  slavery  are  lost  in  obscurity, 
although  nearly  all  the  laws  enacted  between 
1664  and  1788  recognized  its  existence  and 
treated  it  as  an  integral  portion  of  the  slave 
system.  The  first  authoritative  reference  to 
its  existence  appears  in  the  statement  of  eight 
citizens  of  New  Amsterdam  to  the  West  India 
Company,  dated  October  28,  1644,  which  de- 
clared that  "The  captured  Indians,  who  might 
have  been  of  considerable  use  to  us  as  guides, 
have  been  given  to  the  soldiers  as  presents, 
and  allowed  logo  to  Holland;  the  others  have 
been  sent  off  to  the  Bermudas  as  a  present  to 
the  English  governor."  The  second,  which 
refers  to  the  emancipation  of  Indian  slaves, 
points  to  the  conclusion  that  however  desira- 
ble Indian  slavery  appeared  to  the  people  of 
New  York,  it  was  not  acceptable  to  the  au- 
thorities. In  April,  1680,  the  Governor  and 
Council  resolved  "  that  all  Indyans  here,  have 
always  been  and  are  free,  and  not  slaves — ex- 
cept such  as  have  been  formerly  brought  from 
the  Bay  or  Foreign  Parts.  If  any  shall  be 
brought  hereafter  into  the  government  within 
the  space  of  six  months,  they  are  to  be  dis- 
posed of  as  soon  as  may  be  out  of  the  gov- 
ernment. After  the  expiration  of  the  said  six 
months,  all  that  shall  be  brought  here  from 


Inttan 

Slaves 

1680 


Slavers  in  Bew  J^orfe 


Indian 

CbtlSrcn 

1750 


those  parts  and  landed,  to  be  as  other  free  In- 
dians." This  resolve,  if  put  in  force  at  all, 
appears  ere  long  to  have  become  a  dead  let- 
ter. In  July,  1703,  Jacobus  Kirstead,  of  New 
York,  mariner,  petitioned  the  Governor  in  re- 
gard to  an  Indian  brought  by  him  from  Jamaica 
and  sold  as  a  slave.  In  the  same  month, 
twelve  years  later,  Colonel  Heathcote  wrote 
home  to  Secretary  Townsend:  ''The  Indians 
complain  that  their  children,  who  were  many 
of  them  bound  out  for  a  limited  time  to  be 
taught  and  instructed  by  the  Christians,  were, 
contrary  to  the  intent  of  their  agreement, 
transferred  to  other  plantations  and  sold  for 
slaves,  and  I  don't  know  but  there  may  be 
some  truth  in  what  they  allege."  As  late  as 
January  22,  1750,  Colonel  Johnson  wrote  to 
Governor  Clinton :  "I  am  very  glad  that  your 
excellency  has  given  orders  to  have  the  Indian 
children  returned,  who  are  kept  by  the  traders 
as  pawns  or  pledges  as  they  call  it,  but  rather 
stolen  from  them  (as  the  parents  came  at  the 
appointed  time  to  redeem  them,  but  they  sent 
them  away  before-hand),  and  as  they  were 
children  of  our  Friends  and  Allies,  and  if 
they  are  not  returned  next  spring  it  will  con- 
firm what  the  French  told  the  Six  Nations 
(viz.):  that  we  looked  upon  them  as  our 
slaves  or  negroes,  which  affair  gave  me  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  at  that  time  to  reconcile. 
I  cannot  find  that  Mr.  Abeel,  who  has  a  Seneca 


Slavery  in  IRew  l^orfe 


child,  or  Vandrieson,  who  has  got  a  Missisa- 
gey,  are  to  deliver  theirs,  which  I  am  appre- 
hensive will  cause  great  disturbance."" 

From  the  meagre  data  which  these  extracts 
afford,  the  writer  concludes  first,  that,  com- 
pared to  the  body  of  negro  and  mulatto  slaves, 
Indian  slaves  were  few  in  number  ;  and  sec- 
ond, that  the  majority  of  them  were  either 
captives  or  the  descendants  of  captives  taken 
in  war,  or  else  West  Indians  who  were  con- 
founded with  mulattos,  and  imported  as  such. 
That  a  considerable  body  of  kidnapped  red 
Indians  existed  as  slaves  in  New  York  at  any 
period  he  cannot  believe. 

Price  of  Slaves. — /.  Price  of  Slaves  Newly 
Imported.  In  1659,  negroes  purchased  at 
Curacoa  for  $60  could  not  be  sold  at  New 
Amsterdam  for  the  same  price.  In  1661,  a 
few  sold  there  for  $176  each,  less  the  freight. 
Three  years  later  negroes  brought  $200  at  a 
certain  sale,  the  highest  price  being  $270.60, 
and  the  lowest  $134.20.  On  the  same  occa- 
sion negresses  brought  about  $129  each,  al- 
though in  1694,  "good  negresses"  sold  for 
$240,  and  in  1723,  anywhere  from  $225  to 
$300.  Negroes  had  risen  in  value,  meantime, 
to  $250,  and  there  remained,  as  long  as  the 
importation  of  slaves  continued. 

//.  Price  of  Slaves  whose  Character  and 
Abilities  were  Known  to  their  Masters. 

In  1705,  a  Bermuda  merchant  sold,  in  New 


price  of 
Slaves 


26 


Slavery  in  IRew  JiJorfc 


price  of 
Slaves 


York  City,  a  young  negro  woman,  about 
eighteen,  for  $200,  who  had  lived  in  his 
family  some  time.  A  negro  wench,  nineteen 
years  old,  "whom  he  brought  up  from  in- 
fancy, "was  sold  by  Dr.  Duprey,  of  New  York 
City,  in  1723,  for  $275.  In  the  same  year  a 
negro  wench  and  child,  belonging  to  a  former 
sheriff  of  Amboy,  brought  $375.  In  the  in- 
ventory of  an  estate,  in  1719,  another  negro 
wench  and  child  stood  for  only  $300.  Able- 
bodied  men  were  then  selling  for  about 
$250. 

During  and  just  after  the  Revolution,  the 
price  of  slaves  appears  to  have  varied  ex- 
ceedingly. The  assessors  in  Ulster  County 
in  1775,  valued  male  slaves  between  fifteen 
and  forty  at  $150,  those  between  forty  and 
fifty,  ten  and  fifteen,  and  seven  and  ten,  at 
$75,  $90,  and  $50  respectively.  Female  slaves 
between  the  same  ages  brought  $100,  $50, 
$60,  and  $40.  In  1783,  the  Council  of  Seques- 
tration sold  a  negro  boy  for  $56.25.  Ten 
years  later  another  (in  Albany  County)  was 
bought  for  $100.  Still  a  third  was  sold  (in 
Richmond  County)  in  1798  ;  $410  was  his 
price,  though  by  agreement  he  was  to  be 
manumitted  in  nine  years.  In  the  Oswego 
Herald,  1799,  appears  this  advertisement  : 
"  A  Young  Wench — For  Sale.  She  is  a  good 
cook  and  ready  at  all  kinds  of  house-work. 
None  can  exceed  her  if  she  is  kept  from  liquor. 


Slavery  in  flew  H?orfe 


She  is  24  years  of  age — no  husband  nor  chil- 
dren. Price  $200  ;  inquire  of  the  printer."  " 

From  the  beginning  of  this  century  the 
price  of  slaves  appears  to  have  decreased.  In 
1 80 1,  Wm.  Potter  and  Mary  his  wife  pur- 
chased their  freedom  for  $400.  A  negro  nine- 
teen years  old  brought  in  Rockland  County, 
March,  1809,  $250,  and  finally  a  negro  woman, 
aged  thirty-seven,  with  all  the  rights  her 
present  mistress  had  to  the  service  of  her 
children,  was  sold  for  $100. 

From  these  facts  we  may  draw  the  follow- 
ing conclusions  :  first,  that  while  agricultural 
laborers  were  scarce,  male  slaves  were  more 
valuable  than  female,  but  when  domestic  ser- 
vants, rather  than  farm  hands,  were  in  de- 
mand, the  previous  condition  of  things  was 
reversed  ;  second,  that  in  the  years  preceding 
the  Revolution,  slaves  brought  their  highest 
price  ;  and  third,  that  from  1790,  when  it  be- 
came apparent  that  the  legislature  contem- 
plated measures  to  bring  about  emancipation, 
the  price  of  slaves  gradually  declined.  A 
fourth  and  last  conclusion  is  that,  during  the 
colonial  period,  the  average  price  of  both 
male  and  female  slaves  varied  from  $150  to 
$250. 

CENSUS. 

Until  1790  the  censuses  of  New  York  were 
inaccurate,  and  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to 


Cbaiujc  in 
price  of 
Slaves 


28 

Slavery  in  1Rew  li)orfe 

Census 

compute  the  number  of  slaves  in  the  State  be- 
fore that  date.     The  following  figures  are  the 
best  available  *  : 

WHITES. 

SLAVES. 

TOTAL 
POPULATION. 

1664 

7,000 

"  Very  few." 

1678 

2,000  "  able  to 
beare  arms." 

"Very  few." 

1698 

Kings  Co., 
293 

18,067 

1703 

Five  Counties 
about  N.  Y.  City, 

7,767 

Five  Counties 
about  N.  Y.  City, 
1,301 

1712 

Five  Counties 
about  N.  Y.  City, 
10,511 

Five  Counties 
about  N.  Y.  City, 
i,775 

1723 

6,171 

40,564 

1731 

7,23i 

50,291 

1746 

9,7'7 

Without 
Albany  Co., 
61,584 

'774 

21,149 

182,247 

1790 

314,142 

21,324 

340,121 

1800 

557,73' 

20,903 

589,051 

1810 

918,609 

15,017 

959,049 

1820 

',332,744 

10,088 

1,372,111 

1830 

1,873,663 

75 

1,918,608 

1840 

2,387,890 

4 

2,428,921 

*  Colonial  Documents,  F.  B.  Dexter's  pamphlet,  Censuses 
of  the  U.  S.  (since  1790). 

Slavery  in  mew  Ji>orfe 


IN   NEW   YORK   CITY. 


Census 


WHITES. 

SLAVES. 

TOTAL. 

1703 

3,634 

80  1 

4,435 

1712 

4,880 

960 

5,840 

1731 

7,045 

'•57' 

8,616 

"737 

8,945 

',7»9 

10,664 

1740 

9,279 

2,444 

11,723 

30  Slavery  in  IRew  i^orft 


REFERENCES. 

1.  O'CALLAGHAN,  Voyages  of  the  Slavers  "  St.  John  "  and 

"  Arms  of Amsterdam"  p.  13. 

2.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  i.,  p.  246. 

3.  Ibid.,  ii.,  pp.  222,  430. 

4.  Ibid.,  ii.,  pp.  371,  474. 

5.  Collections  of  New  York  Historical  Society,  1809,  pp. 

322,  323. 

6.  Laws  of  New  York,  1752,  p.  69. 

7.  DUNLAP,  History  of  the  New  Netherland,  ii.,  p.  165. 

8.  RIKER,  Harlem,  p.  438. 

9.  M?w  York  Colonial  MSS.,  Ivi.,  p.  172. 

10.  7&iW.,  lix.,  p.  21. 

1 1.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  v.,  p.  39. 

12.  Laws  of  New  York,  1752,  p.  193. 

13.  DUNLAP,  ii.,  pp.  129,   132,  159;    VALENTINE,  Manual 

of  the  Common  Council  of  New   York,  i.,  pp.  571, 
580. 

14.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  v.,  pp.  341,  346,  356, 

367,  371,  525  ;  COFFIN,  Slave  Insurrections. 

15.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vi.,  pp,  186,  196,  199, 

201-203;     HORSMANDER,  Journal  of  Proceedings; 
HORSMANDER,  The  New  York  Conspiracy. 

1 6.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  iv.,  p.  36. 

17.  Ibid.,  iv.,  p.  510. 

1 8.  Laws  of  New  York,  1752,  p.  69. 

19.  Ibid.,  1813,  ii.,  pp.  201-202. 

20.  VALENTINE,  i.,  pp.  566,  571. 

21.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  v.,  p.  433  ;   vi.,  p. 

546. 

22.  LIVERMORE,  Cooperstown,  p.  171. 


TAMMANY  HALL 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.    NUMBER  II. 


TAMMANY  HALL. 
By  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS,  LL.D.,  L.H.D. 

TAMMANY,  for  nearly  a  century,  has  con- 
stituted the  political  agency  by  which 
the  major  mass  of  the  voters  of  New  York  City 
has  made  effective  its  preferences  in  regard  to 
the  rule  of  the  city  for  good  or  for  ill  to  the  worst 
harvest  yet  reaped  in  the  wide  field  of  universal 
suffrage.  This  ruling  organization  of  adult  male 
voters  has  sometimes  been  for  years  together 
only  a  plurality  of  the  voters  of  the  city  profiting 
by  the  divisions  of  its  opponents,  and  it  has 
sometimes  itself  divided  by  fission,  a  part  pre- 
ferring to  use  one  of  the  many  agencies  organ- 
ized in  imitation  of  Tammany  ;  but  for  seventy 
years  there  has  never  been  a  time  at  any  elec- 
tion when  it  was  not  perfectly  clear  to  every 
unprejudiced  observer  that  a  clear  plurality  of 
the  voters  resident  on  Manhattan  Island,  pre- 
ferred, other  things  being  equal,  to  re-elect 
rulers  whose  primary  selection  had  been  de- 
termined by  this  political  agency. 


33 


Voters  on 

ADanbattan 

Hslanfc 


34 


TTammang  Dall 


Cbe 
fortunes 

of 
Europe 


It  has  been  associated  with  the  most  gigan- 
tic spoliation  of  a  civilized  city  known  under 
manhood  suffrage,  though  the  aggregate  of  its 
levies  has  been  small  by  the  side  of  the  gigan- 
tic fine  inflicted  on  Paris  and  France  by  the 
military  despotism,  which  ruled  both  with  the 
applause  and  approval  of  liberal  England  and 
despotic  Europe,  from  the  coup  d'ttat  to 
Sedan.  Until  the  close  of  the  last  century,  it 
was  expected  in  Europe,  as  it  is  still  expected 
in  all  Oriental  countries,  that  those  who  gov- 
erned a  nation  or  conducted  the  higher  and 
more  important  duties  of  its  religion  would 
enrich  themselves  in  the  process.  The  princely 
palaces  of  Rome  record  the  splendid,  sump- 
tuous and  successful  application  of  this  princi- 
ple to  the  fruits  of  the  faith  of  Christendom. 
So  the  "great  families"  of  Europe,  their 
homes,  their  fortunes,  and  their  rent-rolls, 
save  when  the  reward  of  military  sack  or  ser- 
vice, nearly  always  represent  the  lucrative  use 
for  private  emolument  of  the  control  of  pub- 
lic revenue  on  a  larger  or  smaller  scale,  through 
the  exercise  or  inheritance  of  feudal  agencies 
of  rule,  or  a  share  in  the  more  modern  agen- 
cies of  administration.  The  faith  and  the 
patriotism  of  men,  their  fears  for  the  next 
world  and  their  civil  necessities  in  this,  have 
in  all  ages  up  to  our  own  been  regarded  as  the 
legitimate  sources  of  private  fortune,  by  those 
who  allayed  the  one  or  supplied  the  other. 


tball 


35 


It  is  only  under  democratic  conditions  that 
men  are  expected  to  gain  power  without  los- 
ing their  poverty,  and  even  the  rapid  acquire- 
ment of  wealth  by  legitimate  means  during 
public  service,  is  deemed  a  cause  for  scandal 
and  suspicion.  To  the  usual  rule  of  popular 
institutions  that  public  servants  should  leave 
the  public  service  without  money  and  without 
debts,  their  stipends  permitting  not  even  the 
honorable  acquirement  of  a  competence  after 
years  in  positions  of  power  and  responsibility, 
Tammany  Hall  has  been  not  the  only  excep- 
tion, but  the  one  most  conspicuous,  significant, 
and  scandalous.  Yet  the  prodigious  and  co- 
lossal thefts  of  certain  of  its  leaders  have  never 
permanently  destroyed  the  confidence  of  a 
plurality  of  the  voters  of  New  York  City  in 
its  value  as  a  political  agency,  which,  by  and 
large,  gave  them  the  kind  of  city  government 
which  they  preferred.  They  have  returned  to 
its  banners,  its  ballots,  and  its  candidates 
whenever  an  exposure  too  scandalous  to  be 
endured  drove  them  from  it,  and  they  never 
more  unhesitatingly  adhered  to  their  faith  in 
it  under  untoward  circumstances  than  in  the 
election,  which  in  November,  1897,  surren- 
dered to  Tammany  the  entire  government  of 
Greater  New  York,  in  whose  history  and 
management  that  of  Tammany  will,  in  future, 
be  merged. 

Tammany,  during  its  periods  of  success,  is 


£>emo= 
cratic 

Con5f= 
ttons 


1ball 


•Real 

Causes 


the  strongest  and  most  convincing  argument 
which  exists  to-day  against  the  extension  of 
the  principle  of  manhood  suffrage  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  urban  affairs.  The  principle 
itself  is  only  a  form  of  government,  or  to  speak 
more  accurately,  a  form  of  the  consent,  on 
which  all  rule  rests.  The  most  arbitrary  des- 
potism, in  its  ultimate  analysis,  springs  from 
general  consent,  and  the  "freest"  institutions 
have  no  other  basis.  The  issue  between  the 
two  is,  whether  this  consent  shall  be  exercised 
by  submission,  or  through  the  periodical 
choice  of  rulers  by  all  the  voters  of  a  commu- 
nity. If  the  admitted  evils  of  Tammany  for  a 
century  are  the  normal  fruits  of  the  direct  rule 
of  a  great  city  by  its  voters,  free  institutions 
are  doomed.  The  ultimate  verdict  of  civiliza- 
tion and  of  honesty  will  be  against  the  form 
of  government  on  which,  for  over  two  centu- 
ries, as  has  been  confidently  believed,  rested  the 
hopes  of  man  and  the  progress  of  the  race. 
If,  however,  these  evils  are  not  physiological 
but  pathological,  if  they  are  not  the  normal  re- 
sults of  conditions  either  natural  or  inevitable, 
but  pathological  instead,  the  normal  results  of 
abnormal  conditions,  then  the  final  fruit  and 
result  of  this  great  object  lesson  on  the  politi- 
cal consciousness  and  convictions  of  mankind 
depends  upon  whether  these  abnormal  con- 
ditions are  reparable  or  irreparable  ;  due  to 
circumstance  or  to  human  nature,  the  out- 


fcall 


37 


come  of  a  special  environment,  or  of  the  gen- 
eral working  of  the  democratic  principle. 

So  momentous  are  the  consequences  in- 
volved in  a  solution  of  the  cause  and  work- 
ing of  Tammany  Hall  that  neither  its  assail- 
ants nor  its  supporters,  and  much  less  those 
who  discuss  it  from  the  general  standpoint 
of  past  politics  or  present  history,  have  been 
able  with  an  even  temper  to  contemplate  its 
disastrous  operations,  for  three  generations  a 
constant  encouragement  to  those  who  hon- 
estly believe  that  privilege  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  few  are  necessary  to  the  happiness 
and  security  of  the  many,  and  a  discourage- 
ment as  perpetual  to  those  whose  confidence 
in  the  righteousness  and  worth  of  the  visible 
recurrent  and  articulate  control  of  the  many,  is 
unshaken  even  by  Tammany  Hall.  Yet  the 
facts  of  the  case,  neither  few  nor  complex,  are 
both  accessible  and  apparent,  enacted  on  a 
scene  more  than  any  other  in  the  world's 
history,  the  object  of  constant  unsparing  and 
contemporary  record. 

The  largest  city  of  the  Western  World  is 
situated  on  an  island  whose  shape,  size,  and 
surroundings  deprived  it  of  an  homogeneous 
civic  population,  while  its  own  growth  was  a 
part,  and  the  most  conspicuous  part,  of  that 
great  stream  of  emigration  which  has  trans- 
ferred 15,000,000  persons,  or  half  the  present 
population  of  the  United  Kingdom,  during  the 


Cont>t= 

tions 


battan 

flslanf 


UammartE  Dall 


battan 
Island 


last  seventy  years,  from  one  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  other.  Our  daily  and  practical  mo- 
rality is,  in  large  measure,  the  result  of  our 
consciousness  of  the  social  conscience  of  the 
community  of  which  we  are  part.  Every  man 
who  travels  is  aware,  always  by  observation, 
and  but  too  often  by  experience,  of  the  sudden 
shattering  of  moral  observance  which  befalls 
those  of  training,  character,  and  years,  when 
they  suddenly  find  themselves  strangers  in  a 
strange  city,  free  from  the  observation  of  those 
who  do  or  may  know  them.  A  not  dissimilar 
moral  deliquescence  is  the  inevitable  result  of 
immigration.  If  it  has  furnished  more  than  its 
proportionate  and  numerical  share  of  crime, 
corruption,  and  imprisonment,  the  wonder 
must  be  that  it  has  not  done  more. 

While  in  London  but  a  small  percentage  of 
the  population  is  of  foreign  birth,  while  the 
rapid  growth  of  foreign  cities,  whose  swift  in- 
crease during  the  present  century  is  often  cited 
by  the  unfriendly  critics  of  our  municipal  af- 
fairs as  proof  that  our  urban  problems  offer  no 
peculiar  difficulties,  has,  with  negligible  ex- 
ceptions, drawn  its  accretion  from  a  sur- 
rounding population  of  the  same  race,  language, 
and  institutions;  New  York  City  has  been 
a  vast  sand-dune,  without  integral  relations, 
swept  across  the  Atlantic  and  deposited  in  the 
most  convenient  coign  of  vantage  on  the  coast 
of  North  America.  Deprived  of  all  the  myriad 


Ifoall 


39 


stay  and  support  to  sound  political  action 
which  comes  from  coherent  and  uninterrupted 
mutual  personal  acquaintance  and  tradition, 
these  unrelated  units  represented,  for  the  most 
part,  that  precise  stratum  of  society  where 
generations  of  relentless  toil  had  ingrained  the 
impression  that  all  social  institutions  worked 
together  for  the  advantage  of  the  few.  It  is, 
inevitably,  those  who  most  bitterly  feel  this 
disadvantage  in  the  Old  World,  who  seek  the 
New.  This  great  mass,  in  its  diverse  language 
and  with  very  varied  traditions,  but  alike  in  a 
past  training  of  profound  distrust  for  both  the 
honesty  and  good  faith  of  those  who  enjoy 
privileges  of  education,  wealth,  and  refinement, 
of  direction  in  business,  of  supremacy  in  affairs, 
or  of  influence  through  ability,  was  certain  to 
find  its  natural  and  necessary  leaders  in  the 
members  of  that  class  of  the  community  which, 
by  supplying  his  first  wants,  comes  into  direct 
personal,  and  more  or  less  selfish  or  unselfish 
contact  with  the  stranger  laboring  with  his 
hands  to  seek  new  fortunes  in  a  new  home. 
The  class  to  which  he  turned  for  direction 
could  not  be  the  employer,  for  he  represented 
the  restraint  and  the  bourgeois  opportunity  from 
which  the  immigrant  fled,  and  which  he  hated 
in  his  old  home  and  new.  It  could  not  be  in 
religion  he  would  find  leaders,  for  through  all 
its  early  stage,  the  great  mass  of  immigrants 
were  of  a  faith  deemed  alien  by  the  organized 


"Mature 

of  tbc  1ms 

migrants 


"fcall 


•Reason 

or  Organ 

ijation 


churches  of  the  community  to  which  he  came. 
The  small  grocer  and  the  liquor-seller,  the 
mechanic  foreman  or  superintendent,  and  the 
contractor  risen  from  the  ranks  of  laborers,  and 
for  whom  he  was  able  to  furnish  the  employ- 
ment the  raw  newcomer  first  seeks,  consti- 
tuted the  directing  force  of  society  brought 
most  directly  in  contact  with  the  immigrant 
and  his  offspring,  new  landed  or  long  resident. 
Coming  as  strangers  and  unorganized,  the 
immigrant  population  fell  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  that  stratum  of  society  which 
lay  nearest,  and  which  had  none  of  the  ob- 
jectionable features  of  other  strata  whose  rule 
was  resented,  and  whose  privileges  elsewhere 
were  remembered  with  bitterness.  The  pre- 
cise classes  which  have  been  described  con- 
stituted, and  still  constitute,  the  backbone  of 
Tammany  Hall. 

It  is  a  grave  error  to  confound  the  natural, 
praiseworthy,  and  often  sound  desire  of  the 
men  of  this  class  of  lesser  retail  dealers,  liquor- 
sellers,  and  contractors,  to  be  of  political  influ- 
ence, and  to  bear  a  share  in  the  business  of 
government,  with  the  organized  and  continu- 
ous plunder  of  some  of  their  higher  leaders. 
To  many  in  the  rank  and  file  of  Tammany 
Hall,  no  pecuniary  advantage,  but  the  reverse, 
has  come  from  their  membership.  They  are 
in  it  because,  being  what  they  are,  and  the 
city  what  it  is,  it  offers  the  readiest  channel  to 


1baU 


gratify  the  laudable  wish  to  be  of  weight  and 
moment  in  the  community  in  which  one 
lives.  Flagrant  and  flagitious  corruption  of 
voters  has  existed,  but  corruption  only  lubri- 
cated the  machine.  It  was  not  its  prime 
motor.  The  wish  and  will  of  a  well-organized 
plurality  was  this.  Tammany  has  been  the 
agent  of  this  wish.  The  not  infrequent  result 
has  been  a  corruption  unexampled  under  dem- 
ocratic and  liberal  institutions,  though  easily 
matched  among  despotisms  to  whose  types, 
methods,  and  institutions,  Tammany  of  late 
constantly  tends  to  revert. 

These  influences  would  not  have  become 
paramount  and  predominant  on  Manhattan 
Island,  if  it  had  contained  a  city  normally  con- 
stituted as  to  its  population,  or  normally  housed 
as  to  its  dwellings.  For  the  first  half-century, 
New  York  was  such  a  city,  and  Tammany  Hall, 
while  powerful,  was  not  despotic.  But  be- 
tween 1840  and  1870,  a  large  portion  of  the 
middle  class  of  New  York  was  siphoned  off  by 
insular  conditions  of  territory  into  Brooklyn, 
which  has  often  had  its  boss,  always  its  politi- 
cal independence,  and  never  a  Tammany  Hall. 
No  insignificant  share  of  the  same  general 
class  was  diverted  to  the  suburban  settle- 
ments of  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut.  This 
left  New  York  City  without  that  precise 
social  enclave  which  might  have  saved  it,  and 
which  in  all  cities  and  all  times  is  the  salva- 


Ube 


Class 


Dall 


Domestic 
Service 


tion  of  the  commonwealth,  the  class  which 
filled  the  trainbands  of  London  in  the  fight 
with  Charles,  and  the  Continental  Army  in 
the  fight  with  George.  The  instant  this  class 
was  restored  by  the  charter  of  Greater  New 
York  to  the  constituents  of  the  city,  Tammany 
Hall  was  seen  to  be  reduced  in  its  relative 
vote,  though  on  Manhattan  Island  it  retained 
its  usual  plurality.1 

This  double  circumstance,  a  population  im- 
migrant in  fact  or  by  descent,  which  found  its 
natural  leaders  in  the  lower  retail  ranks  of 
economic  distribution  and  social  direction, 
and  an  urban  community,  in  which  a  valuable 
and  necessary  constituent  had  been  decanted 
off  of  the  island  by  its  shape  and  by  the  pres- 
sure of  trade  and  population,  was  undoubtedly 
aggravated  by  the  conditions  of  American  soci- 
ety. Fugitive  in  all  its  relations,  American 
life  has  reduced  to  its  final  contractual  nexus 
the  relations  of  domestic  service.  Where  do- 
mestic service  is  personal  and  continuous,  it 
and  the  relations  which  grow  up  under  these 
conditions,  furnish  an  important  agency  by 
which  the  political  opinions  of  the  well-to-do 
are  filtered  through  all  social  strata.  The 
American  habit  of  discharging  servants  in  the 
spring  and  re-engaging  them  in  the  fall,  and  a 
domestic  habit  and  attitude  which,  from  faults 
on  both  sides,  renders  this  relation  still  more 
precarious,  completely  sundered  and  separated 


t>all 


43 


the  more  fortunate  social  strata  from  the  less 
fortunate,  in  which  lie  most  of  the  votes  of 
Tammany. 

Since  those  in  need  were,  for  the  most  part, 
strangers  in  a  strange  land,  without  personal 
relations,  a  vicarious  charity  system  devel- 
oped, under  which  most  New  Yorkers  com- 
muted the  personal  service  each  man  and 
woman  owes  to  those  about  him  in  want, 
into  a  money  payment.  While  this  disbursed 
the  vast  sums  which  render  New  York  City 
one  of  the  most  liberal  in  its  charities  the  world 
over,  it  divorced  and  deprived  these  char- 
ities of  the  personal  influence  which  is  the 
just  fruit  of  an  honest  personal  charity  which 
seeks,  first,  not  to  relieve  the  needs  of  another, 
but  to  discharge  one's  own  personal  debt  and 
duty  to  society,  and  the  relief  of  human  want. 
In  the  end,  also,  these  charities  themselves,  in 
more  than  one  instance,  became  the  scandal- 
ous beneficiaries  of  Tammany  Hall,  and  were 
harnessed  to  the  car  of  its  organization,  so  that 
their  work  presented  itself  to  a  great  mass  of 
the  poor  and  struggling  as  part  of  a  system 
which,  whether  it  plundered  the  rich  or  not, 
at  least  relieved  the  poverty-stricken. 

Lastly,  there  existed  the  pressure  of  American 
life,  quite  as  much  a  matter  of  nervous  imagi- 
nation as  of  actual  exertion,  and  the  more  seri- 
ous social  fact  that  a  torrid  summer  drove  from 
the  city  for  a  long  absence  the  class  which 


Cbaritiee 

in 
•new  L'orfe 


44 


tmll 


tton  of 
Cnminanv 


was  most  needed  for  daily  personal  influence, 
women  of  character,  cultivation,  and  well-to- 
do  surroundings.  This  summer  absence  de- 
prived them  of  the  network  of  myriad  contact 
which  insensibly  diffuses  social  ideas.  The 
tenement-house  system,  due  to  the  limited 
area  of  the  city,  aggravated  and  exasperated 
all  these  conditions  by  preventing  among  the 
great  mass  of  its  population  those  neighbor- 
hood relations,  and  that  personal  acquaintance 
which  are  only  possible  where  each  family  has 
its  separate  home.  New  York  for  half  a  cen- 
tury has  been  berthed,  not  housed. 

Tammany  Hall  began  in  a  secret  organiza- 
tion, the  Tammany  Society  or  Columbian 
Order,  whose  membership  was  drawn  from 
the  precise  stratum  already  described.  Organ- 
ized a  little  over  a  century  ago,  the  political 
drift  of  this  Society,  and  the  political  organiza- 
tion which  grew  out  of  it,  was  for  forty  years 
towards  universal  suffrage  ;  for  forty  years  its 
tumultuous  gatherings  directed  a  growing  im- 
migrant population,  and  for  nearly  thirty,  the 
heads  of  this  body  have  led  a  well-organized 
body  of  all  classes,  partly  foreign  and  partly 
native,  for  the  exclusive  object  of  ruling  the 
city.  The  earliest  of  these  periods  ended  with 
the  first  elected  mayor  in  1834. 

It  saw  the  destruction  of  the  more  or  less 
aristocratic  society  of  the  colonial  period,  and 
the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  both  incidents  in 


1ball 


45 


the  commercial  expansion,  which  in  England 
led  to  the  Reform  Bill,  and  in  this  country  to 
universal  white  male  suffrage.  The  next 
period  ran  to  the  end  of  the  war,  and  saw 
New  York  established  as  the  gate  of  the  West, 
while  here,  1865  to  1870,  the  centralization  of 
Federal  power,  with  the  destruction  of  slavery, 
was  accomplished,  and  household  suffrage 
established  in  England.  The  third,  covering 
the  last  thirty  years,  has  been  marked  by  the 
transformation  in  all  fields  of  individual  into 
corporate  activity  and  the  multiplication  of  a 
myriad  complex  and  specialized  agencies, 
through  which  a  population  of  73,000,000 
nominally  carries  on  its  varied  business — 
social,  economic,  and  political — through  insti- 
tutions originally  devised  for  a  population  of 
3,000,000,  and  still  bearing  their  old  names. 

The  Tammany  Society,  which  on  its  cele- 
bration of  theter-centennial  of  Columbus's  dis- 
covery in  1792,  became  also  the  Columbian 
Order,  was  organized  by  William  Mooney," 
an  upholsterer  by  trade,  and  its  first  celebra- 
tion, May  12,  1789,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hud- 
son, is  usually  treated  as  the  beginning  of  the 
society,  though  its  original  organization  took 
place  at  the  City  Hall,  and  it  was  itself  an  imi- 
tation of  an  earlier  Philadelphia  society.  In 
New  York,  as  elsewhere,  the  close  of  the  war 
saw  return  to  power  the  colonial  better  class, 
recruited  by  those  who  had  led  the  Revolution. 


tUUliam 


1ball 


number 

Of  Votes 
Cast 


Tammany  stood  for  popular  resistance  to  this. 
New  York  City  had  a  restricted  suffrage  based 
on  a  property  qualification,  and  the  ancient 
forty-shilling  homeholder  of  the  English  bor- 
ough. The  population  of  the  city  in  1790, 
was  33,131,  and  its  voters  numbered  5,184,' 
of  whom  half,  or  2,661,  were  of  the  forty-shil- 
ling class,  not  owning  freeholds  to  the  value  of 
;£2O.  Even  at  this  early  date,  a  majority  of 
voters  were  without  a  property  stake,  and  less 
than  one-fourth,  or  1,209,  ne^  over  ;£ioo  of 
realty.  Of  these  voters  less  than  one-half  came 
to  the  polls,  though  it  is  a  persistent  political 
fiction  that  in  earlier  and  better  days  all  good 
citizens,  when  all  citizens  were  good,  both 
voted  and  attended  the  primary. 

In  1789,  when  George  Clinton  defeated 
Robert  Yates,  only  2,760*  votes  were  cast,  or 
less  than  half  the  vote  lists.  To-day  a  vote  of 
90  per  cent,  of  the  registry  is  the  normal  pro- 
portion, and  the  registry  is  nearly  this  pro- 
portion of  the  vote.  Where  in  1790,  54  per 
cent,  of  the  registered  voters  seek  the  polls, 
the  proportion  now  is  for  the  most  part  over 
90  per  cent.  In  addition,  on  the  usual  basis, 
New  York  in  1790,  would  have  had  with  its 
population  a  vote  of  about  6,600,  so  that  about 
1,500  persons  must  have  been  disfranchised. 
An  important  work  which  Tammany  has  dis- 
charged, and  one  essential  to  the  final  success 
of  our  institutions,  is  of  breeding  the  habit  of 


Uammanp  tmll 


47 


voting.  Abroad,  in  France,  for  instance,  not 
over  half  the  voters  vote.  However,  it  has  failed 
at  other  points,  Tammany  has  always  been 
faithful  to  the  work  of  extending  the  basis  of 
suffrage,  so  far  as  white  males  were  concerned, 
and  in  drilling  them  to  the  habit  of  voting. 
There  is  to-day  no  voting  body  of  equal  size, 
or  approaching  its  size,  which  so  fully  exer- 
cises its  political  right  to  vote  as  that  on  Man- 
hattan Island.  The  work  of  ensuring  that  this 
vote  shall  be  cast  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
city  remains  to  be  done. 

In  1789,  government  was  still  in  the  hands 
of  the  few.  The  inauguration  of  Washington 
was  a  turning-point  in  more  than  Federal  af- 
fairs, and  the  Tammany  Society  represented 
more  than  one  of  its  events.  As  the  Indian 
was  driven  back  from  the  coast,  and  his 
character  and  habits  became  legendary,  there 
sprang  up  an  innocent  admiration  for  quali- 
ties which  Cooper  was  soon  to  make  a  part 
of  fiction,  and  which  were  never  a  part  of 
fact.  The  Middle  States,  in  particular,  had  been 
brought  into  close  contact  with  Indians  of  a 
tribe  and  type  less  savage  and  more  peaceful 
than  any  along  the  coast.  Among  the  Lenni 
Lenape  Indians,  Tamanend,  whose  grave  is 
still  cherished,6  and  whose  memory  was  long 
revered,  was  a  chief  who  signed  one  of  Penn's 
treaties,  purchasing  part  of  Philadelphia.  He 
became,  during  the  Revolution,  the  pseudopa- 


Uamanenb, 
tbe 

fnfctan 

Chief 


48 


XCammang  1ball 


Cotcms 


tron  saint  of  the  younger  officers  and  men  of 
the  line.  His  day,  May  I2th,  replaced  that  of 
St.  George.  There  was  also  in  this  aboriginal 
worship  and  admiration,  relic  and  reflection  of 
Rousseau's  apotheosis  of  primitive  man  and 
the  dawn  of  a  protest  against  English  suprem- 
acy, always  strongest  in  an  American  com- 
munity in  the  stratum  from  which  Tammany's 
membership  was  drawn.  In  organizing  the 
new  society  in  New  York,  but  one  of  many, 
the  ritual  and  organization  of  an  Iroquois  lodge 
was  imitated,  and  the  "long  room"  at  Mart- 
ling's  had  its  name,  not  from  its  length,  but 
because  this  was  the  term,  still  familiar,  applied 
by  the  Indian  to  his  tribal  assembly-room. 
The  Tammany  Society  was,  therefore,  divided 
into  thirteen  tribes,'  each  with  its  totem,  and 
while  the  Society  itself  remained  active  in  its 
membership  and  meetings,  each  initiate  was 
assigned  to  one  of  these  tribes.  Time  and 
tendencies  are,  however,  stronger  in  deter- 
mining totems  than  paper  constitutions  and 
rituals.  The  symbol  upon  which  Tammany 
and  the  public  have  finally  settled,  with  the 
agreeable  unanimity  of  the  captor  and  his 
prey,  has  been  the  Tammany  Tiger,  first  em- 
blazoned on  the  engine  of  "Big  Six,"7 and 
conspicuous  under  Tweed  in  the  heavy  gold 
badge  of  the  Americus  Club.  The  year8  in  the 
ritual  of  the  Society  was  divided  into  the  four 
seasons,  and  their  elaborate  and  artificial  return 


Uammang  tmll 


49 


to  the  savage  still  appears  after  a  century  in 
the  advertised  notices  of  the  meetings  of  the 
Society,  jostling  more  modern  forms  and 
phrases.  These  mild  fooleries  were  all  only 
part  of  a  like  spirit  perpetually  out-cropping 
in  our  cities  in  "Sir  Knights,"  in  regalia,  and 
in  rituals  of  whose  complexion,  extent,  and 
important  influence  on  the  character  of  indi- 
viduals many  of  those  who  deem  themselves 
familiar  with  American  society  are  profoundly 
ignorant. 

Tammany's  original  political  action  was 
along  lines  suggested  by  the  "  Committee  of 
Correspondence,"  whose  revolutionary  plots, 
success  has  turned  into  patriotic  projects. 
It  formed  the  usual  medium  of  inter-state 
political  action  in  the  first  forty  years  after 
the  close  of  the  Revolution,  and  slowly  de- 
veloped into  its  present  system  of  party 
government.  Similar  Tammany  societies  had 
been  organized  in  other  States.  That  in 
Philadelphia,  parent  of  all  the  rest,  was  first 
organized  May  i,  1772,*  when  the  sons  of 
King  Tammany  met  at  the  house  of  James 
Byrns  to  celebrate  the  memory  of  a  chieftain 
already  associated  with  American  opposi- 
tion to  the  European  spirit.  Reorganized  in 
imitation  of  the  New  York  exemplar,  the 
Tammany  Society,  or  Columbian  Order  of 
Philadelphia,  at  the  Columbia  Wigwam,  on 
the  Schuylkill,  showed  its  opposition  May  12, 


Other 
Societies 


iball 


1798,  to  Federalism  and  its  sympathy  with 
^e  French.  It  paraded  in  costume  in  honor 
of  Jefferson's  election,  its  Wiskinski  to  the 
front,  carrying  a  key  ;  it  celebrated,  in  1802, 
the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  always  supported 
the  ruling  demagogues  of  a  day  of  demagogues, 
and  its  celebrations  were  still  in  progress 
in  1814.  In  Rhode  Island10  it  was  not  until 
1819  that  a  Tammany  Society  was  organized 
and  continued  for  five  years  with  various 
branches  and  much  success  to  lead  the  Demo- 
cratic party  to  short-lived  victory.  These 
societies,  wherever  organized,  displayed 
everywhere  the  same  revolt  of  the  class 
newly  arrived  to  the  suffrage,  or  desiring  it, 
and  made  in  all  places  the  same  appeal  in 
parade,  buck-tail,  and  ritual. 

The  original  Tammany  Society  was  at  first 
welcomed  as  an  aid  to  the  effort  Washington 
was  making  at  the  opening  of  his  Adminis- 
tration to  conciliate  all  classes  at  home,  and 
receive  peace  on  our  Indian  frontier.  A  year 
after  its  first  organization,  when  Col.  Mari- 
nus  Willett  brought  to  New  York  a  deputa- 
tion of  Creek  Indians,  they  were  the  guests 
of  Tammany  Society  during  their  visit.  The 
occasion  was  serious.  Our  Western  march 
was  barred  at  the  north  by  the  British  forts 
and  at  the  south  by  the  Creeks  and  Chero- 
kees,  the  most  powerful  confederacy  on  our 
frontier.  Their  reception  and  entertainment 


1ball 


at  the  new  Federal  capital  by  the  Tammany 
Society,  in  full  costume  and  regalia,  was  a 
public  service  whose  importance  it  is  not 
easy  now  to  appreciate. 

Before  three  years  had  passed,  the  Tam- 
many Society  was  in  full,  though  unavowed, 
opposition  to  Washington's  Administration, 
its  first  conspicuous  sign  of  changing  views 
being  its  elaborate  celebration  "  of  the  landing 
of  Columbus,  October  12,  1792,  whose  odes, 
inscriptions,  and  ceremonies  were  devoted  to 
the  pledge  that : 

Secure  for  ever  and  entire 

The  Rights  of  Man  shall  here  remain. — 

language  which  in  that  day  and  date  was 
the  dialect  of  the  supporter  of  France  and 
the  opponent  of  the  policy  of  Washington. 
Two  months  later  the  Society  met,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1792,  to  celebrate  the  victory  of 
Dumouriez11 — a  meeting  whose  last  midnight 
and  perhaps  maudlin  toast  expressed  the  fer- 
vent hope  that  the  American  fair  would  ever 
keep  their  favors  for  the  Republican  brave. 
Nor  from  that  day  to  this  has  the  elaborate 
political  machinery  of  Tammany  Hall  failed 
to  appreciate  the  necessity  of  keeping  in  close 
union  the  social  pleasures  and  the  political 
action  of  great  masses  of  voters.  The  winter 
ball  and  the  summer  excursion,  whose  heavy 
expense  is  no  small  part  of  the  annual  budget 


jfrencb 
Influence 


52 


fball 


Dew  Eles 

mcnts  in 

Hew  1'orfe 

1708 


of  a  district  leader  to-day,  echo  the  determi- 
nation of  the  toast  in  Brom  Martling's  Hall  a 
century  ago. 

The  Revolution  had  been  precipitated,  as 
far  as  physical  force  was  concerned,  by  "  Lib- 
erty Boys,"  led  by  a  few  men  who  repre- 
sented the  secondary  colonial  aristocracy  of 
wealth,  for  which  Adams  stood  in  Massa- 
chusetts, Clinton  in  New  York,  and  Morris  in 
Pennsylvania.  Ten  years  after  the  struggle 
found  the  officer  better  rewarded  than  the 
private  both  by  Legislatures  and  the  public. 
Mooney  had  been  a  violent  "Liberty  Boy." 
He  and  his  found  little  to  admire  in  the  wait- 
ing policy  of  Washington.  The  turmoil  of 
Europe  added  immigration  to  domestic  fer- 
ment, and  the  Revolution  of  '98  sent  to  New 
York  the  ablest  Irish  immigrants  of  the  cen- 
tury, the  last  immigration  of  birth,  abroad. 
With  it  closed  colonial  conditions  of  political 
emigration.  Thenceforward  European  emi- 
gration was  economic.  New  York's  trade 
was  gaining  what  Philadelphia  lost  by  yellow 
fever.  The  Tammany  Society  became  the 
nucleus  about  which  centred  the  unsatisfied 
turbulence  of  the  Revolution,  the  rapidly  in- 
creasing ranks  of  labor  deprived  of  a  vote,  and 
the  new  wave  of  immigration  stung  to  bitter 
revolt  against  Federalism  by  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws  of  1798.  The  immediate  local 
leader  was  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  a  young 


TTammam?  tmll 


53 


graduate  of  Columbia,  who  began  his  political 
career  by  marrying  the  daughter  of  the  Alder- 
man of  his  ward,  and,  having  married  her, 
demonstrated  his  right  to  become  a  district 
leader  by  carrying  his  ward,  the  Seventh,  and 
reversing,  in  1800,  the  Federal  majority  of 
200  in  the  year  before.  He  ended  his  typical 
Tammany  career  under  charges  of  pecuniary 
dishonesty.  His  integrity  was  in  the  end  vin- 
dicated, but  only  at  the  expense  of  his  admin- 
istrative ability.13 

For  ten  years,  after  George  Clinton,  in 
1789,  by  a  narrow  majority  of  429,  defeated 
Robert  Yates,  the  candidate  of  a  conserva- 
tive reaction,  the  rapid  development  of  poli- 
tics went  on.  The  population  doubled.  The 
voters  increased  but  two  thirds;  in  1801, 
8,088.  The  men  without  a  vote  trebled.  Dan- 
gers environ  a  democratic  community  when 
population  outstrips  voters.  The  halves  of 
the  city  pulled  apart.  Realty  owners  over 
$500  in  value  doubled.  Men  owning  $100  to 
§500  nearly  disappeared.  The  landless  40- 
shilling  householder  more  than  doubled.  The 
landless  voteless  men  trebled.  Tammany 
steadily  gravitated  from  social  to  political  ac- 
tion. It  denounced  Jay's  treaty,  and  the  dis- 
tinguished author  of  the  Louisiana  code  began 
his  public  career  by  flinging  the  missile  which 
cut  open  the  face  of  Hamilton.  It  went  in  a 
body  to  help  fortify  Governor's  Island  when 


\vitbout 
Dotes 


54 


trnll 


Cammanv 
Aeetinge 


war  with  England  looked  near.  It  welcomed 
Priestley,  but  his  New  York  friends  did  not, 
as  in  Philadelphia,  attend  his  sermons.  Its 
reception  to  the  discoverer  of  oxygen  was  the 
last  sign  of  the  scientific  interest  which,  in 
1790,  led  to  an  American  Historical  Museum, 
first  opened  in  the  City  Hall,  and  removed 
later  by  Gardiner  Baker,  its  founder  and  cura- 
tor, to  the  open  triangular  space  where  Broad 
and  Pearl  join.  Three  weeks  after  its  recep- 
tion to  the  fugitive  from  the  mob  of  Birming- 
ham, the  society  surrendered  to  the  curator 
its  museum  on  condition  that  it  should  bear 
its  name,  and  that  its  members  should  enjoy 
a  family  free  ticket,  an  early  application  of  the 
principle  of  free  passes  which  has  distin- 
guished the  Society  for  a  century. 

Meeting,  as  most  of  the  societies  of  the  day 
did,  in  a  tavern,  Tammany  began  at  Borden's  in 
lower  Broadway,  and  its  annual  procession  on 
May  I2th,  "St.  Tammany,"  and  July  4th,  for 
the  "  long  talks  "  and  "short  talks  "  of  its  cele- 
bration, marched  up  Broadway  with  feathers 
and  leggins  to  the  old  Presbyterian  Church  on 
Wall  Street  or  to  the  Brick  Church  which 
faced  City  Hall  Square,  on  the  triangle  at 
whose  apex  is  the  New  York  Times  building. 
In  1798,  it  moved  to  Martling's,  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  Nassau  and  Spruce  Streets. 

This  long,  low  building,  opening  on  Nassau, 
was  kept  by  "  Brom"  Martling  (Abraham  B. 


Uammang  t>all 


55 


Martling),  and  for  twenty  years,  even  after  a 
new  hall  was  built,  the  members  of  the  Soci- 
ety, and  the  political  party  which  clustered 
about  it,  were  known  as  "Martling  men." 
The  use  of  Tammany  as  a  political  term  did 
not  begin  in  1818,  but  until  that  date  was  in- 
frequent. It  became  common,  not  because 
the  Tammany  Society  itself  grew  more  imme- 
diate in  its  political  action,  but  because  it  had 
built  the  first  of  its  permanent  homes.  Incor- 
porated in  1805,  during  the  next  ten  years 
Tammany  Hall  men  held  the  most  lucrative 
posts  in  a  Federal  administration  far  more  ex- 
travagant in  the  emoluments  of  its  offices 
than  in  the  present  day,  when  salaries  have 
replaced  fees.  The  city  itself  was  passing 
through  a  period  of  rapid  commercial  expan- 
sion, whose  first  check  was  the  embargo, 
which  Tammany  supported,  with  the  result, 
as  a  fruit  of  the  policy  of  which  the  embargo 
was  a  part,  that  the  relative  growth  of  the 
city  was  less  than  one  half  as  rapid  in  the  sec- 
ond decade  of  the  century  as  in  the  first.  In 
1811,  at  the  end  of  the  first  decade,  Colonel 
Rutgers  was  able  to  raise  $28,000,  a  large 
sum,  but  no  more  than  a  single  Tammany 
Federal  officer  had  drawn  in  a  year  as  fees,  and 
"Martling's  Long  Room"  was  replaced,  not 
far  from  its  site,  by  the  first  Tammany  Hall,  at 
the  corner  of  Frankfort  Street  and  Park  Row. 
The  walls  of  the  building  then  erected  still 


•Cbc  first 

JSuilSimi 

IS11 


Uammang  1ball 


funeral 

Ibonors 


stand,  the  office  of  the  New  York  Sun.  It  held 
originally  a  hall  and  hotel,  where  board  was 
$7  a  week,  the  second  leading  hotel  of  the 
city.  It  had  behind  it  the  shipyards  and  tan- 
neries on  the  East  River.  It  had  before  it  the 
City  Hall.  The  better  residence  quarter  was 
passing  up  the  island,  along  another  channel 
in  whose  currents  Tammany  Hall  has  never 
found  the  stream  to  grind  its  mill. 

"  Martling's  Long  Room  "  had  been  the  re- 
sort of  "Sons  of  Liberty  "  and  of  the  "  Sons  of 
1776."  The  close  connection  was  one  of  the 
causes  which  made  it  natural  for  Tammany 
Society  to  give  funeral  honors  to  the  bones 
of  the  Revolutionary  prisoners  of  war,  of 
whom  11,500  had  sickened  and  died  in  Brit- 
ish prison-hulks,  treated  with  no  more  and  no 
less  inhumanity  than  was  the  brutal  custom 
of  the  day.  Congress  had  neglected,  in  1803, 
the  memorial  of  the  Society.  In  1807,  Tam- 
many appointed  a  committee,  and  a  year 
later,  May  26,  1808,  Tammany  Society  in  its 
regalia,  the  buck-tail  conspicuous,  led  a  civic 
procession  which  buried  the  bleached  bones, 
and  returned  to  the  weather-beaten,  unpainted 
structure  which  had  survived  the  Revolution. 
Its  bar-room  was  on  Spruce,  its  kitchen  on 
Nassau.  Its  "long  room"  ran  parallel  with 
the  latter.  Built  when  a  mere  road  ran  before 
it  up  the  island,  the  street  had  risen  in  grade. 
The  floor  of  the  hall  was  reached  by  two 


1baU 


57 


or  three  descending  steps.  Uncouth,  dirty, 
stained,  the  merest  shanty,  it  was  known  by 
Federalist  opponents  as  "the  pig-pen."  It 
deserved  the  name.  Its  selection,  and  Bor- 
den's,  the  churches  in  which  the  Society  held 
its  larger  and  more  decorous  meetings,  Camp- 
bell's in  Greenwich  village,  where  its  May  and 
summer  outings  were  held,  all  bespoke  the 
small  merchant,  retailer,  and  mechanic,  out  of 
whose  ranks  the  Tammany  machine  was  to 
grow  and  to  control  the  vast  foreign  vote  of 
the  future. 

The  Federal  party  lost  its  power  and  its 
head  together,  and  drove  the  immigrant  into 
Democratic  support  by  passing  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws.  In  spite  of  this  it  won  the 
Congressional  election  of  1798,  and  the  scan- 
dal attending  Burr's  Manhattan  Bank  charter 
gave  the  Federalists  the  city  by  900  majority 
in  1799.  Sinking  step  by  step,  from  Wash- 
ington to  Clinton,  and  from  Clinton  to  Tam- 
many, he  came  to  New  York,  organized  the 
landless  vote,  which  could  not  elect  a  Gov- 
ernor but  could  determine  the  choice  of  Fed- 
eral electors,  and  the  spring  election  of  1800 
saw  the  first  New  York  contest  in  which 
voters  were  enrolled,  canvassed,  and  voted 
with  ordered  precision.  "  Faggot  "-voters 
were  created  by  uniting  a  number  of  men  in 
the  ownership  of  the  same  property,  poor  men 
were  deeded  free-holds,  the  Society  kept  open 


Ube  ffirat 


1ball 


Xeginninge 

of  political 

Distort 


house  in  its  hall,  voters  were  carried  to  the 
poll,  the  last  man  was  voted,  and  the  first 
victory  of  Tammany  Hall  was  won. 

Jefferson  was  elected  President  and  Tam- 
many was  placed  in  the  relative  position 
which  it  has  ever  since  occupied.  In  New 
York  City  it  had  opposed  to  it,  the  well-to-do, 
the  better-educated,  and  the  mass  of  property- 
holders.  In  the  State,  the  State  Administra- 
tion and  the  vote  of  the  State  was  in  general 
marshalled  in  the  opposing  party.  The  in- 
stant its  leader,  Aaron  Burr,  appeared  in 
Washington,  where  he  had  been  nominated 
for  Vice-President,  and  began  to  act  for  him- 
self in  national  affairs,  Tammany  broke  with 
him  and  united  with  his  enemies,  as  Tam- 
many has  dealt  ever  since  with  every  political 
leader  in  New  York  State  of  its  own  party 
who  with  or  without  its  votes,  rose  to  a  na- 
tional position  and  began  a  national  career. 
Lastly,  without  backing  in  the  Northern  States, 
except  in  the  Tammany  societies  of  the  larger 
cities,  the  new  organization  found  its  natural 
allies  in  the  Southern  slave  States,  and  re- 
ceived first  from  Jefferson  and  later  from  Madi- 
son and  Monroe  the  aid  of  Federal  patronage, 
which,  as  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton  charged 
twenty  years  later,  was  "an  organized  and 
disciplined  corps  in  our  elections."11 

The  political  history  of  Tammany  Hall  be- 
gan with  this  victory.  The  Society  and  its 


Tball 


59 


committee  of  correspondence  gave  a  nucleus 
for  political  action,  secrecy,  and  contact  with 
other  States.  The  "general  meeting"  gath- 
ered voters  for  assemblies  which  ratified 
nominations  and  passed  resolutions  already 
decided  in  the  Society.  Federal  offices  gave 
patronage  and  the  Albany  Legislature  a  long 
series  of  corrupt  transactions  in  which  nearly 
all  public  men  shared.  When  Burr,  in  1804, 
was  nominated  for  Governor,  Tammany  Hall, 
following  Jefferson's  wishes  and  its  own 
inclination,  supported  Morgan  Lewis.  He 
was  nominated  at  a  Legislative  caucus,  whose 
chairman,  Ebenezer  Purdy,  was  later  expelled 
from  the  Senate  for  corrupt  practices;  and 
whose  clerk,  Solomon  Southwick,  was  later 
charged  with  bribery  in  procuring  the  charter 
of  the  Bank  of  America.15  DeWitt  Clinton, 
the  municipal  rival  of  Burr,  resigned  his  seat  in 
the  United  States  Senate  to  become  Mayor,  a 
post  with  four  times  the  salary  of  the  Federal 
position  and  proportionately  greater  power, 
the  first  instance,  frequent  through  the  century, 
of  a  Tammany  man  preferring  the  better-filled 
manger  of  its  service  to  the  higher  but  emptier 
stall  of  a  national  career.  As  with  all  its 
Mayors,  Tammany  early  gave  him  the  alterna- 
tives of  submission,  retirement,  or  the  organ- 
ization of  his  own  political  machine.  Men 
like  Clinton,  Wood,  and  Grace  have  done  the 
last.  Men  like  Hone  and  Hewitt,  the  second. 


HJeTOUtt 

Clinton 

1812-1818 


6o 


Tball 


^lections     Other  more  recent  Tammany  Mayors  have  se- 
lected the  first. 

The  precise  difference  in  Clinton's  case  had 
as  its  occasion,  not  its  cause,  his  sentence  of 
Gillian  C.  Verplanck  for  his  share  in  the  riot 
which  marked  public  disapproval  of  the  Fed- 
eralist sympathies  of  the  Columbia  College 
authorities.  Separating  himself  from  the  sys- 
tem which  placed  in  a  caucus  of  Congressmen 
at  Washington  the  nomination  of  President,  De 
Witt  Clinton  began  the  modern  national  con- 
vention, and  organized  the  alliance  between 
the  interior  of  New  York  and  the  Federal  Whig 
and  Republican  vote  of  the  city  which  oppo- 
sition to  Tammany  has  marshalled  through 
the  century  on  all  State  and  National  issues. 
Tammany  had  developed  from  its  own  ranks, 
Tompkins,  its  leader  in  this  struggle  ;  he  had 
the  support  of  Ambrose  Spencer  and  other 
Federal  office-holders  under  him.  Tammany 
Hall  vigorously  supported  the  war  of  1812,  a 
most  important  public  service.  It  aided  in  op- 
posing Federal  aid  to  the  Canals,  which  were, 
under  De  Witt  Clinton,  at  length  built  after 
political  victories,  due  to  his  city  machine, 
which  organized  a  lower  level  than  Tammany, 
as  Wood  and  Morrissey  did  later,  and  the  in- 
terior rural  vote,  first  Tompkins's  and  later  his. 
Through  all,  Tammany  steadily  held  its  grip  on 
the  city.  In  1 8 1 8,  its  entire  ticket  for  Congress 
and  its  corporation  officers  were  chosen  by 


Tfoall 


61 


1,200  majority.16  In  1819,  its  average  majority 
on  Assemblymen  was  2,301  and  on  Senators, 
elected  by  a  limited  suffrage,  850."  One  year 
later,  the  "Tammanies,"  thanks  to  various 
coalitions  in  the  State,  had  41  Assemblymen, 
the  Federals  39,  and  the  Clintonian  Republicans 
46.  These  dissensions  in  Democracy,  Niles 
lamented,  as  Democratic  editors  did  like  divi- 
sions due  to  like  causes  seventy  and  eighty 
years  later.18  From  year  to  year,  through  this 
period,  the  Tammany  Society  and  the  General 
Meeting  issued  addresses  to  the  branches  of  the 
one,  and  the  Democratic-Republican  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  other,  deploring  in  1817  the 
spread  of  the  "foreign"  game  of  billiards 
among  the  upper,  and  vice  among  the  lower  ; 
and  in  1 8 1919  its  address  led  Adams,  who  with 
Jefferson  and  Madison  responded  to  its  utter- 
ances, to  wish  it  success  "  in  discountenancing 
all  pernicious  customs  and  usages,  and  devia- 
tion from  a  wise  and  virtuous  national  econ- 
omy." Through  all  its  first  period,  Tammany 
spoke  with  the  accent  of  a  middle-class  preci- 
sian. In  the  next  period,  it  sank  to  the  street- 
rough.  In  the  close  of  the  third,  grew  up  the 
intimate  connection  of  some,  not  all,  of  its 
leaders,  with  the  semi-criminal  classes.  But 
this  affected  only  a  part.  The  great  mass  of 
the  active  membership  of  Tammany  Hall  as  a 
political  organization  has  always  consisted  of 
the  civic  stratum  made  up  of  daily  labor  with 


BHttetta 

Bione  anb 

Cbangcs 


62 


t>all 


transition 
period 

1821=1830 


its  immediate  direction  in  the  stratum  just 
above. 

A  Tammany  "general  meeting"  began  the 
movement  which  ended  in  the  constitution  of 
1 82 1  and  white  male  suffrage.  This  somewhat 
increased  the  number  of  voters,  but  not  much. 
Under  a  restricted  suffrage,  the  ingenuity  of 
politicians  manufactured  a  registry  of  19,925 
voters  in  New  York  City  in  1821,  where  the 
census  in  1826  could  count  only  18,283  adult 
male  citizens.  The  real  change  was  an  in- 
crease in  the  habit  of  voting.  In  1826,  only 
31.12  per  cent,  of  the  voters  voted  ;  in  1828, 
75.69 ;  and  by  1840, 91.96  percent. — themodern 
average.  Nor  had  naturalization  added  much 
to  the  vote.  Even  in  1840,  the  New  York 
Assembly  had  in  it  but  one  person  of  foreign 
birth80 and  75  were  native  to  the  State.  In  1855, 
New  York  City  still  had  46,173  native  and 
42,704  naturalized  voters  ;  in  1855,  51,500 
native  and  77,475  naturalized  ;  in  1875,  90,- 
973  native  and  141,179  naturalized.  This 
eloquent  proportion  remains  the  rule.  Yet  the 
earlier  American  municipality  was  a  filthy, 
pestilential  city,  enduring  countless  nuisances, 
with  a  general  death-rate  comparable  to  the 
tenement-house  districts  of  seventy  years  later. 

Tammany  shared  with  the  rest  our  transi- 
tion period,  1820-1830,  Buck-tails  casting  in 
their  lot  with  Van  Buren's  Jackson  men,  and 
Clintonians  developing  into  anti-Masons  — 


1baU 


spurred  by  the  wide  influence  of  secret  soci- 
eties like  Tammany — and  Whigs.  For  a  few 
years,  an  election  of  mayor  by  the  aldermen 
put  Tammany  at  a  disadvantage,  as  the  Whigs 
held  the  less  populous  wards,  and  the  succes- 
sive ballotings  were  full  of  shameless  scandal. 
When  a  constitutional  amendment,  1833, 
made  the  mayoralty  elective,  Cornelius  A. 
Lawrence  was  nominated,  1834,  after  old  forms. 
Posters  announced  the  "general  meeting."  A 
flag  was  hoisted  over  Tammany  Hall.  The 
hall  was  open  to  all  comers.  He  polled  1 7, 575 
votes,  and  his  Whig  opponent,  Gulian  C.  Ver- 
planck,  17,373.  Since  then  the  tides  of  votes 
have  ebbed  and  flowed  with  a  periodical 
regularity."  Tammany  held  five  successive 
terms  and  the  opposition  two;  the  organiza- 
tion elected  five  mayors  and  the  opposition 
one  ;  Tammany  two  and  the  opposition  one  ; 
Tammany  one  and  the  opposition  two  ;  Tam- 
many three  and  the  opposition  four  ;  Tam- 
many four  and  the  opposition  one;  Tammany 
two  and  the  opposition  one  ;  two  candidates 
endorsed  by  Tammany  and  the  opposition 
one  ;  a  compromise  candidate  and  Tammany 
three  ;  the  opposition  one,  and  Tammany  the 
last.  This  steady  alternation  has  given  Tam- 
many about  two  thirds  of  the  mayors,  and 
its  periods  of  defeat  and  victory  have  only  been 
broken  (during  the  war)  by  Fernando  Wood 
and  the  Mozart  Hall  Democracy. 


HItcrna= 

tion 
of  ivncs 


fball 


Cbanycs 
1835=1838 


Tammany  Hall,  in  full  communion  with 
Jackson,  was  already  in  fatal  alliance  with 
Southerners,  who  figured  as  prominently  as 
its  speech-makers  then  as  now.31  In  1831, 
the  Hall  made  the  serious  blunder  of  trying  to 
support  Jackson  and  to  sympathize  with  South 
Carolina  in  the  same  resolutions.  New  York 
was  roused,  and  a  great  meeting  of  merchants 
passed  an  uncompromising  resolution.  The 
blunder  severed  a  reputable  vote  never  re- 
gained. The  Equal  Rights,  or,  as  we  should 
say,  labor  party,  in  1829  cut  off  another  body 
of  voters.  Growing,  the  new  labor  party  in 
October,  1835,  started  from  its  Bowery  head- 
quarters*3 and  stormed  the  "general  meeting  " 
in  a  riot  which  gave  birth  to  the  "  loco-foco  " 
party,  which  owes  its  name  to  the  matches 
used  when  the  Tammany  janitor  turned  off 
the  gas.  In  1837,  after  two  Tammany  vic- 
tories, the  split  cost  the  mayoralty, — Aaron 
Clark,  Whig,  17,044;  John  D.  Morgan,  Demo- 
crat, 13,763  ;  and  Moses  Jaques,  bolter,  4,- 
239.  Again,  in  1838,  Tammany  was  defeated, 
borne  down  by  the  scandal  of  wholesale  de- 
falcations, Samuel  Swartwout,  Collector,  for 
$1,200,000,  and  William  M.  Price,  District 
Attorney,  for  $75,000.  Both  fled,  and  neither 
was  pursued.  The  public  conscience  was  in- 
conceivably low.  "  Defalcations  are  no  crime, " 
said  a  leading  New  York  paper"  in  a  cynical 
vein.  For  five  years,  for  the  pendulum  swung 


Uammang 


back  in  1839,  Isaac  L.  Varian  winning  by  a 
narrow  majority,  Tammany  Hall  elected  its 
mayor  by  a  constantly  increasing  plurality  and 
an  enlarging  poll,  which,  in  1844,  prompted 
charges  of  fraud  from  Whigs  who  found,  as 
often  since,  that  Tammany  won  as  well  with- 
out Federal  and  State  patronage  as  with. 
Twice,  1844  and  1845,  the  American  party 
elected  its  candidate,  James  Harper,  but  dis- 
appeared as  rapidly  as  it  had  arisen,  and,  in 
1846,  Tammany  elected  W.  F.  Havemeyer  by 
the  crushing  majority  of  6,822. 

The  victory  was  decisive.  The  city  was 
passing  out  of  its  provincial  stage.  A  police 
force  was  about  to  be  organized.  The  water 
works  were  completed.  The  internal  trade 
and  foreign  commerce  of  the  city  were  about 
to  enter  on  the  amazing  expansion  which  cul- 
minated in  1857.  The  adoption  of  a  new  con- 
stitution and  its  re-apportionment  gave  the 
Democrats  an  advantage  retained  for  thirty 
years.  Immigration  was  transforming  the 
city.  When  the  Mayor  first  became  elective, 
American  workmen  and  Whig  majorities  held 
the  first  to  the  fifth  wards  in  the  lower  end  of 
the  Island  and  went  up  the  ridge  with  the 
eighth  and  fifteenth  wards.  The  new  foreign 
element  had  settled  in  the  low  ground  of  the 
sixth,  and  the  seventh  and  ninth  to  fourteenth 
were  Tammany.  Fifteen  years  later,  the  lower 
end  of  the  Island  was  Irish  and  Democratic, 


©rowing 
Suprems 


66 


Uammang  fmll 


Growing 

Suprems 

1850=1353 


and  the  AmericanWhlg  mechanic  was  elbowed 
north  and  west,  coloring  the  seventh,  ninth, 
and  thirteenth  wards,  long  Whig  and  later  Re- 
publican. 

If  Tammany  lost  two  or  three  elections, 
1847,  1849,  in  part  because  its  vigorous  sup- 
port of  the  Mexican  War  was  unpopular,  its 
supremacy  was  growing,  and  in  1850,  Fernan- 
do Wood,  the  first  man  who  attempted  to  be 
boss  in  Tammany  Hall  after  fifty  years  of  joint 
leadership,  organized  the  brute  vote  which  ra- 
diated from  the  ' '  bloody  Sixth. "  Beaten  for  the 
first  two-year  term  by  Ambrose  C.  Kingsland, 
Whig,  who  polled  the  Free  Soil  Democratic 
vote,  predecessors  of  the  "State  Democ- 
racy," two  years  later,  1852-1856,  Wood  was 
laid  aside  for  Jacob  A.  Westervelt,  who  was 
pulled  through  by  the  Presidency  and  Seymour, 
in  1852,  with  10,000  majority.  In  1853,  the 
Democratic  party  split  into  "Softs"  and 
"Hards."  Slavery  is  the  cause  usually  assigned.1 
The  real  one  was  that  the  "Hards,"  the  repu- 
table office-holders,  were  vainly  trying  to  hold 
power  against  the  rising  tide  of  rowdy  "  plug- 
ugly  "  and  bruiser  led  by  Wood  and  organized 
in  "clubs,"  "gangs,"  and  fire  engine  compa- 
nies, and  all  the  manifold  machinery  by  which 
an  ignorant  foreign  vote  and  a  depraved  native 
vote  as  ignorant,  was  manned,  managed,  ma- 
nipulated, and  made  ready  to  share  and  dare 
the  plunder  of  the  city  ten  years  later  under 


Ifoall 


67 


Closet) 

Doors 


Tweed.  Winning  the  regular  Tammany 
nomination  in  1854,  Wood  was  elected  over  a 

1857 

divided  vote,  polling  but  20,033  out  °f  5^,- 
972  votes  cast.  With  his  term  began  the  re- 
version to  earlier  methods  in  the  attempt  to 
govern  New  York  from  Albany  through  a  non- 
partisan  police.  It  failed,  and  only  gave  a  new 
demonstration  that  Tammany's  power  is  inde- 
pendent of  mere  patronage.  Enjoying  boss 
control  of  party  machinery,  Wood,  in  1856, 
polled  ninety-nine  votes  against  ten  for  all 
other  candidates  in  the  regular  Tammany  con- 
vention." A  most  reputable  bolting  conven- 
tion nominated  James  C.  Libby.  He  polled 
scarcely  5,000  votes  and  Wood  34,566,  a  plu- 
rality of  9, 384  over  his  next  antagonist,  Isaac 
O.  Baker,  the  Know-nothing  candidate.  In 
the  regular  course,  Wood  would  have  become 
and  remained  the  first  boss  of  Tammany  Hall. 
His  respectable  opponents  had  control,  how- 
ever, of  the  Tammany  Society.  A  hot  canvass, 
in  1857,  ended  in  the  selection  of  a  Board 
of  Sachems,  who,  by  a  vote  of  seven  to  six, 
closed  the  doors  on  Wood  and  his  General 
Committee.  For  the  first  time,  the  Tammany 
Society,  which  is  only  the  landlord  of  the 
political  body  which  leases  its  hall,  exercised 
its  singular  power  of  deciding  between  rival 
organizations.  Again  in  1872,  it  closed  its 
doors.  During  the  last  illness  of  John  Kelly, 
it  was  deemed  possible  that  it  might  be 


68 


TCammans  Iball 


Ube 

Close 
of  tbe 

Idar 


called  upon  again  to  decide  between  rival 
claimants. 

Driven  from  Tammany  Hall,  Wood  found 
the  city  alarmed  and  aroused,  and,  in  1857,  he 
was  defeated  by  Daniel  F.  Tiemann,  a  Demo- 
cratic candidate  who  gathered  to  his  support 
all  dissentient  elements,  the  first  instance  in 
the  history  of  the  city.  Organizing  Mozart 
Hall,  in  1859,  Wood  defeated  divided  op- 
ponents and  was  elected  Mayor  a  third  time 
in  a  canvass  in  which  the  Democratic  vote 
was  evenly  divided.  The  war  now  broke  the 
continuity  of  local  traditions.  Tammany  Hall 
organized  a  regiment,  the  42d  New  York,  and 
sent  it  to  the  front,  and  its  monument,  with 
its  Indian  wigwam  and  Indian  chief,  was 
dedicated  at  Gettysburg,  September  24,  1891." 
Of  the  steady  service  of  the  regiment,  its  record 
in  thirty-six  battles  and  engagements  is  a  suffi- 
cient proof.  The  war  period  saw  George 
Opdyke,  the  only  Mayor  New  York  has  ever 
had  elected  on  a  Republican  ticket,  chosen  by 
613  votes  over  two  Democratic  candidates, 
Wood  and  Gunther.  Two  years  later  a  brief- 
lived  "  Hall,"  led  by  John  McKeon,  elected 
C.  Godfrey  Gunther  over  a  combined  Tam- 
many and  Mozart  Hall  candidate  by  6,524 
votes. 

The  close  of  the  war  found  Tammany  Hall, 
whose  local  ranks  were  bitterly  disloyal,  di- 
vided, defeated,  and  discredited.  If  it  promptly 


Uammaug  "foall 


69 


rose  to  supreme  civic  power  and  decided  the 
national  Democratic  nomination  in  1868,  it 
was  because  it  represented  certain  stable  social 
conditions  and  a  permanent  political  force. 
New  York  was  now  a  city,  and  no  accretion 
of  population  or  territory  has  altered  its  char- 
acter. Its  great  population  was,  and  for  forty 
years  and  more  was  destined  to  remain,  with 
a  majority  of  foreign  birth.  With  this  ma- 
jority was  associated  another  great  stratum, 
descendants  of  the  Irish  immigration  of  twenty 
years  before.  The  two  were  crowded  to- 
gether in  a  great  tract  of  dense  population, 
the  needs  of  whose  days  and  the  amusements 
of  whose  nights  were  furnished  by  the  grocer, 
the  retailer,  and  the  liquor-seller,  while  the 
associations  best  known  and  most  familiar 
were  those  of  the  volunteer  fire  company,  the 
beer  garden,  and  the  "club"  dance-house. 
Reorganized  with  district  leaders  drawn  from 
these  sources,  Tammany  Hall  was  led  by 
Tweed  in  the  riotous  assault  of  its  chiefs  on 
the  city  treasury,  while  the  rank  and  file  be- 
lieved themselves  on  the  high  road  to  regain 
the  Democratic  supremacy  enjoyed  before  the 
war.  After  the  fall  of  Tweed,  crushed  by  the 
revelation  of  his  wholesale  plunder — though 
if  he  had  gone  to  England  instead  of  to  jail 
he  might  have  returned  to  power — Tammany 
was  again  reorganized  by  John  Kelly,  a  man 
of  a  different  type,  sober,  patient,  industrious, 


tftcorganU 
3ation 


70 


ftmll 


«uie" 


and  of  such  honesty  as  was  possible  for  a  man 
bred  in  his  surroundings.  Of  the  three  bosses 
of  Tammany  Hall,  I  once  reported  the  sentence 
Of  the  first  for  his  embezzlements,  and  the  trial 
of  the  third  for  murder  ;  the  second  once  said  to 
me,  when,  in  a  moment  of  youthful  enthusiasm, 
I  urged  on  him  the  demerits  of  a  local  candidate 
for  district  judge,  "  If  I  go  into  these  local 
fights,  I  can't  pick  good  men  for  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  is  my  business."  To  this  busi- 
ness, he  devoted  himself  for  ten  years  of  pa- 
tient and  stubborn  assiduity,  accepting  the 
evils  he  found  and  increasing  them  by  con- 
solidating the  power  of  the  organization  he 
led  —  in  some  sort  its  Augustus.  He  found  it  a 
horde.  He  left  it  a  political  army.  In  1871, 
by  bolting  the  nomination  of  Lucius  Robinson, 
he  detached  this  army  from  all  allegiance  but 
that  of  Tammany  Hall.  This  supreme  stroke 
of  statecraft  completed  the  slow  development 
of  a  century  by  rendering  the  boss  of  Tam- 
many a  supreme  ruler  within  his  political 
limits.  Twice  he  elected  his  mayors,  Wick- 
ham,  1874,  and  Ely,  1876;  once  he  was  de- 
feated, Schell  by  Cooper,  1878,  and  twice  he 
accepted  a  coalition  Democrat,  Grace,  1880, 
and  Edson,  1882,  but  he  ended  with  the  elec- 
tion, 1884,  of  Grant,  a  straight  Tammany  can- 
didate. After  his  death,  John  Kelly  was 
succeeded  by  Richard  Croker,  a  man  whose 
reign  is  still  too  incomplete  to  admit  of  com- 


1baU 


plete  analysis.  An  investigation  in  1894 
showed,  however,  that  the  early  and  direct 
plunder  of  Tweed  had  been  replaced  in  the  city 
government  of  New  York  by  indirect  pillage 
through  blackmail,  whose  responsibility  Tam- 
many shares  with  other  political  organizations, 
but  in  which  its  portion  was  larger,  its 
methods  more  systematic,  and  its  evil  success 
more  complete. 

The  political  army  which  has  raised  these 
three  bosses  to  despotic  rule,  and  won  this 
extraordinary  succession  of  political  victories 
through  a  century,  has  slowly  reached  its 
present  organization  under  which  a  single 
man  exercises  unchallenged  supremacy.  When 
New  York  had  5,000  voters,  a  single  hall  en- 
abled a  majority  of  the  majority  of  these 
voters  to  meet  and  decide  the  nominations 
and  the  general  policy  of  the  party.  This 
"general  meeting"  is,  by  two  channels  of 
succession,  the  lineal  predecessor  of  the  Gen- 
eral Committee  which  now  crowds  Tammany 
Hall,  able  to  accommodate  only  a  third  of  the 
body  which  is  supposed  to  meet  there. 
During  the  first  thirty  years  of  Tammany,  the 
"general  meeting"  had  two  functions;  it 
directly  made  nominations  and  issued  ad- 
dresses, which  later  became  platforms.  This 
use  of  the  "general  meeting"  survives  in  the 
direct  use  of  the  "general  committee"  as  a 
county  convention  to  nominate  county  officers 


"General 
/liicetiiuj  " 


Uammang  t>all 


•Cbe 

tClarS 

/Iketinge 


without  calling  primaries  or  electing  delegates 
for  the  purpose.  The  "general  committee" 
is  to-day,  however,  the  symbol  rather  than 
the  survival  of  the  "  general  meeting,"  which 
was  once  the  ultimate  authority  in  Tammany 
Hall. 

At  the  ' '  general  meetings  "  committees  were 
appointed  to  prepare  addresses  and  to  carry 
on  the  campaign.  These  also  acted  as  "  com- 
mittees of  correspondence,"  following  Revo- 
lutionary precedent,  an  atrophied  organ  still 
surviving  in  the  "Committee  on  Correspon- 
dence." "  Each  ward,  at  an  early  day,  had  its 
ward  committee,  appointed  at  a  general  meet- 
ing of  the  ward.  The  same  machinery  ex- 
isted in  Congressional  and  legislative  districts 
when  these  were  created.  There  is  a  curious 
political  myth  that  at  some  early  period  the 
general  body  of  voters  attended  their  meetings 
and  made  them  the  direct  utterance  of  popular 
will  as  apart  from  that  of  politicians  directly 
interested  in  office-holding  and  the  profits  of 
place  and  influence.  For  this  legend  there  is  ab- 
solutely no  evidence  whatever.  When  Tam- 
many Hall,  at  its  primaries  in  September,  1897, 
polled  35,000  votes,58  a  larger  vote  was  cast 
than  had  ever  been  before  recorded,  and  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  also  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  vote  cast  in  New  York 
City  for  Tammany  candidates  at  the  last 
election.  These  "  general  meetings  "  and  pri- 


Ifoall 


73 


maries  began  in  the  grossest  disorder.  Clin- 
ton's meetings,  which  drew  from  a  social 
stratum  lower  than  that  of  Tammany  Hall, 
were  regularly  mobbed.  The  ward  meetings 
from  1820  to  1840  were  the  constant  scene  of 
boisterous  and  violent  combat.  From  1840  to 
1870  they  were  normally  in  the  hands  of  the 
bully,  the  black-leg,  and  the  prize-fighter. 
Tamed  by  a  police,  efficient,  with  all  its  black- 
mail, in  preserving  external  order,  they  have 
been  for  the  past  quarter-century  incompara- 
bly more  orderly,  no  more  corrupt,  and  no  less 
illusive  expressions  of  the  popular  will  than  in 
the  past. 

Until  the  passage  of  the  "Cassidy  resolu- 
tion,"29 in  the  State  Convention  of  1871,  the 
ward  and  its  election  district  were  the  units 
of  political  representation.  By  1822,  the 
ephemeral  "general  committee,"  most  of 
whose  members  were  also  members  of  the 
Tammany  Society,  and  sometimes  acted 
through  it,  were  consolidated  in  a  perma- 
nent "general  council"  of  three  members  from 
each  of  the  eleven  wards,  into  which  (1825) 
the  city  was  divided.  New  wards  increased 
the  membership  to  forty-five,  and  in  1836  to 
seventy-five.  There  was  here  for  nearly 
twenty  years  a  ward  general  committee,  a 
"general  meeting"  which  tumultuously  acted 
for  the  party,  and  a  network  of  local  ward  and 
district  committees.  These  last  often  filled 


Civic 

Qrgants 


74 


1ball 


ten  to  twelve  columns  in  the  daily  papers,  and 
were,  like  the  Tammany  General  Committee 
of  to-day,  a  tolerably  complete  roster  of  the 
office-holding  class  and  the  working  army  of 
Tammany  Hall. 

Between  the  disappearance  of  this  organ- 
ization in  fact,  though  not  in  name,  and  the 
appearance  of  current  conditions,  political 
power  between  1845  to  1865  passed  to  the 
many  voluntary  civic  organizations  of  which 
the  fire  companies  were  so  easily  chief. 
Some  social,  some  useful,  and  some  purely 
predatory,  these  varied  bodies  first  controlled 
Tammany  Hall,  and,  when  they  were  turned 
out  of  it,  for  ten  years  made  the  fortunes  of 
various  "  Halls,"  more  permanent.  The  most 
important  were  drafted  into  the  service  of  the 
city  in  a  paid  fire  department,  and  the  rest 
were  subdued  by  the  police. 

They  became  in  this  condition  accessions 
to  a  political  organization  which  controlled 
the  police.  When  John  Kelly  undertook  the 
work  of  reorganizing  Tammany,  the  Assembly 
District  and  Election  District  were  the  units  of 
organization,  the  latter  giving  a  member  each 
for  the  General  Committee  and  the  former 
supplying  the  Assembly  District  leader,  who 
sat  on  the  old  "  Committee  of  Organization." 
This  useful  and  powerful  body  was  employed 
by  John  Kelly  "to  discipline  "  John  Morrissey, 
and  was  for  nearly  ten  years  the  centre  of  the 


ZTammanp  Tball 


75 


organization.  It  began  by  choosing  its  ruler. 
It  ended,  as  is  the  fashion  of  despotism,  by 
its  ruler  choosing  it.  It  remained  the  ruling 
body  in  December,  1885,  when  Croker  con- 
trolled seventeen  out  of  twenty-four  members 
and  assured  his  succession  in  the  organization. 

The  election  district,  which  with  its  single 
member  furnished  a  sufficiently  large  base  in 
the  city  of  about  a  million  with  160,000  voters 
in  1875,  had  become  an  unsuitable  unit 
twenty  years  later,  when  both  the  city  and  the 
voters  had  nearly  doubled  in  number.  The 
Democratic  vote  was  made  a  basis  of  represen- 
tation in  the  General  Committee  for  each 
Assembly  District  on  the  ratio  of  a  vote — not 
member — to  each  fifty  votes  cast.  The  dele- 
gation thus  determined  was  "elected"  in  a 
nominal  poll,  until  1895  open  only  two  hours, 
at  a  single  place  in  each  Assembly  District. 
The  delegation  has,  necessarily,  one  from  each 
election  district  and  as  many  more  as  choose 
to  serve  and  pay  a  fee.  This  procedure  has 
swollen  the  General  Committee  from  700  or 
800  in  1874  ;  to  4,562  in  1890  ;  to  8,000  in 
1 892 ;  and  to  upwards  01  1 2,000  now.  Its  com- 
mittees are  correspondingly  enlarged,  the 
committee  on  organization  having  in  1892, 
768  members  or  32  from  each  Assembly  Dis- 
trict. 

Real  power  and  control  rested  with  the 
"leader"  in  each  Assembly  District,  named 


Election 
Districts 


1ball 


Btstrict 


by  the  "boss,"  but  holding  his  place  by  the 
feudal  tenure  of  constant  and  unbroken  victory. 
In  December,  1893,  a  running  mate  for  the 
leader  in  the  shape  of  a  business  man  was  de- 
vised. Each  "leader"  knows- the  citizens, 
families,  homes,  and  business  of  an  Assem- 
bly District,  containing  from  5,000  to  14,000 
voters,  and  keeps  an  amazing  knowledge 
of  their  votes,  habits,  needs,  desires,  pur- 
suits, pleasures,  and  crimes.  Each  election 
district  with  its  300  to  500  voters  has  its  leader. 
This  organization  is  customarily  supposed  to 
be  devoted  to  marshalling,  managing,  and 
polling  the  vote.  But  this  is  only  the  culmi- 
nation of  its  arduous  duties.  It  forms  a  vast 
net-work  through  which  a  host  of  daily  and 
necessary  civic  duties  are  discharged.  Through 
it,  foreign  voters  are  naturalized  and  trained  to 
new  duties,  employment  is  procured  for  the 
idle,  aid  distributed  to  the  needy,  the  unfor- 
tunate are  befriended  in  hospital  and  court- 
room, the  semi-criminal  receive  immunity, 
the  honest  are  guided  and  aided  to  those  ex- 
tra-legal advantages  a  policeman  conveniently 
blind  can  give  to  the  peddler,  the  vendor,  huck- 
ster, and  small  store-keeper ;  and  there  is  fur- 
nished, besides,  the  centre  of  an  active  social 
and  political  life.  A  part  of  these  duties  in- 
volve breach  of  the  law  and  lead  to  thinly 
disguised  blackmail.  Most  are  part  of  that 
mutual  civic  help,  busy  men,  however  public- 


ZTammang  1baU  77 

spirited,    utterly  neglect.      Done  for   selfish       civic 
motives  doubtless  by  the  district  "leader," 
they  are  none  the  less  necessary. 

Their  discharge  renders  the  Tammany  or- 
ganization a  daily  fountain  of  benefits  to  the 
ignorant  and  helpless,  whose  votes,  won  by 
these  dubious  means,  are  made  the  bulwark 
of  daily  wrongs  public  and  private.  This  union 
of  crime,  oppression,  and  benevolence,  of  mal- 
feasance, blackmail,  and  largess,  has  held  its 
power  fora  century,  neither  by  corruption  nor 
by  patronage,  but  by  its  hideous  imitation  and 
wise  use  of  important  civil  duties,  neglected 
by  the  well-to-do.  Their  sedulous  and  right- 
eous discharge  will  supplant  Tammany  by  sup- 
plying something  better.  No  other  method, 
machinery,  or  management  will,  for  no  form  of 
government,  however  free,  no  law,  however 
wise,  and  no  political  machinery,  however 
adroit,  can  ever  be  a  substitute  for  civic  cour- 
age, civic  virtue,  and  the  daily  discharge  of 
mutual  civic  duties.  If  these  duties  are  neg- 
lected by  good  men,  bad  men  will  use  them 
to  evil  ends. 


ttammang 


•fiotcs 

anS 
•(References 


NOTES  AND  REFERENCES. 

1.  In    1897,   the  vote  of  the  Tammany  candidate  for 

Mayor  was  in  New  York  City  (Manhattan  and  Bronx), 
16,607  'ess  than  the  united  vote  of  its  opponents, 
and  in  Greater  New  York  (whose  total  vote  was  only 
75  per  cent,  greater  than  that  of  New  York)  its  own 
total  vote  fell  51,562  short  of  the  total  of  its  oppo- 
nents, or  nearly  fourfold  its  New  York  minority. 

2.  The  first  officers  were  William  Mooney,  White  Mat- 

lock,  Oliver  Glenn,  Philip  Hone,  James  Tyler,  John 
Campbell,  Gabriel  Furman,  John  Burger,  Jonathan 
Pierce. 

3.  New  York  State  Census,  1855,  p.  ix. 

4.  HAMMOND'S  Political  History  of  New  York,  i.,  41. 

5.  Grave  of  Tamanend.     H.  C.   MERCER,  Magazine  of 

American  History,  March,  1893. 

6.  New  York  was  the  Eagle  tribe  ;    Delaware,  Tiger ; 

Virginia,  Wolf ;  North  Carolina,  Buffalo  ;  Pennsyl- 
vania, Bee  ;  Connecticut,  Beaver  ;  New  Hampshire, 
Squirrel ;  Maryland,  Fox  ;  New  Jersey,  Tortoise  ; 
Rhode  Island,  Eel  ;  South  Carolina,  Dog. 

7.  "  Big  Six"  was  the  term  applied  to  Engine  Company 

No.  6,  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  the  foreman  of  whose  big 
"double-decker  "  was  William  M.  Tweed. 

8.  The  year  was  divided  into  the  seasons  of  Snows,  Blos- 

soms, Fruits,  and  Hunting. 

9.  SCHARF-WESTCOTT'S  History  of  Philadelphia,  i.,  265. 

10.  MARCUS  W.  JERREGAN,  Tammany  Societies  of  Rhode 

Island. 

1 1 .  EDWARD  F.   DELANCY,  New  York  Historical  Society, 

Oct.  4,  1894. 

12.  American  Daily  Advertiser,  Jan.  3,  1793. 

13.  In  1806,  Tompkins  was  elected  Governor  of  New  York, 

and  in  1816,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 


Tfoall 


79 


14.  Niles  Register,  N.  S.,  vii.,  208. 

15.  HUGH  J.  HASTINGS'S  Ancient  American  Politics,  p.  28. 

1 6.  M7«  Register,  xii.,  192. 

17.  Niles  Register,  N.  S.,  ii.,  192. 

18.  M7«  Register,  N.  S.,  ix.,  354. 

19.  Niles  Register,  N.  S.,  v.,  387. 

20.  HAZARD'S  United  States  Register,  ii.,  140. 

2 1 .  THOMAS  E.  V.  SMITH,  "  Elections  of  New  York."    New 

York  Historical  Society,  1893. 

22.  Niles  Register,  4th  S.,  vii.,  295. 

23.  Niles  Register,  4th  S.,  xiii.,  163. 

24.  New  York  Herald,  Dec.  10,  1838. 

25.  The  Tammany  Hall  Democracy,  1875,  p.  38. 

26.  Tammany  Hall  Souvenir,  1893,  p.  71. 

27.  By-Laws  General  Committee  of  Tammany  Hall,  viii., 

2,  1893. 

28.  M?o>  W&  Sun,  Sept.  25,  1897. 

29.  This  resolution  required  the  New  York  Democracy  to 

elect  delegates  by  assembly  districts. 


•notes 

anii 
•References 


OLD  PRISONS  AND  PUNISHMENTS 


81 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.    NUMBER  III. 


OLD  PRISONS  AND  PUNISHMENTS. 

BY  ELIZABETH  DIKE  LEWIS. 

THE  Dutch  settlers  of  New  Amsterdam, 
having  founded  their  colony  in  a  spirit 
more  commercial  than  religious,  felt  earlier 
than  did  their  Puritan  neighbors,  the  need  of 
a  place  of  imprisonment.  This  does  not  mean 
that  the  wicked  flourished  there  to  an  alarm- 
ing degree.  In  fact  the  city  was  well  ad- 
vanced in  years  before  it  felt  the  presence  of 
crime,  or  the  want  of  anything  like  a  penal 
system.  A  means  of  punishing  peccadillos, 
of  frightening  scolds,  and  of  maintaining 
military  discipline,  was  all  that  was  at  first 
necessary.  Consequently  more  than  a  cen- 
tury passed  before  there  was  a  prison  build- 
ing on  Manhattan  Island,  space  having  been 
easily  provided  for  offenders  in  the  town's 
official  headquarters,  wherever  such  govern- 
ment as  there  was,  had  chanced  to  house 
itself. 
As  is  perfectly  natural,  therefore,  the  first 


83 


Ube  Stan* 
iicons  in 

tfort 
Bmatets 

6am 


84 


prisons  ano  Jpunisbments 


fn&ian 

prisoners 


dungeon  was  within  the  ramparts  of  Fort 
Amsterdam.  Somewhere  in  the  quadrangle, 
along  with  the  Governors  mansion,  the  mili- 
tary post,  and  the  little  church,  was  a  lock-up, 
no  doubt  of  the  most  primitive  order,  and 
probably  of  a  migratory  habit.  The  earliest 
prisoners  were  the  Indians  captured  in  skir- 
mishes, who  were  confined  in  some  part  of 
the  barracks  of  the  soldiers  who  had  taken 
them.  It  is  not  certain  that  any  civil  offen- 
ders were  ever  imprisoned  there,  but  even 
after  the  building  of  the  Stadt  Huys,  the  cap- 
tive Indians  seem  to  have  been  kept  in  the 
Fort  dungeons. 

In  1644,  one  Lieutenant  Baxter  marched  to 
the  "castels"  of  the  Westchester  Indians, 
destroyed  their  crops  and  killed  many  of 
them,  and  returned  to  the  Fort  with  several 
prisoners.1  At  about  the  same  time  an  ex- 
pedition to  Heemstede,  where  troubles  had 
become  complicated,  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  two  Indians,  who  were  brought  to  the  Fort 
and  cruelly  dealt  with.  One  was  dragged 
into  a  circle  of  soldiers,  abused,  and  cut  at 
with  knives  till  he  whirled  in  his  death-dance, 
and  finally  dropped  amid  the  jeers  of  his  per- 
secutors. The  other  was  also  mutilated,  and 
the  same  horrible  scene  might  have  been  re- 
peated had  not  another  party  of  soldiers  inter- 
fered and  mercifully  beheaded  him  on  a  block 
behind  the  barracks.' 


prisons  ant)  punisbments 


While  the  colonists  were  few  and  mutually 
dependent,  there  was  no  mention  of  any  pris- 
oners save  those  of  war.  But  other  than 
warlike  measures  soon  became  imperatively 
necessary  to  protect  the  community  from  its 
terrifying  foes.  A  drunken  Indian  was  a 
menace  to  a  whole  neighborhood,  and  one 
armed  with  civilized  weapons  was  a  trebly 
dangerous  enemy.  It  was,  therefore,  or- 
dained at  various  times  that  he  who  should 
be  found  selling  liquors  to  Indians  should  be 
"arbitrarily  corrected,"  or  imprisoned,  or 
"condemned  "  :  or  if  the  selling  could  not  be 
proved  on  any  one  person,  then  the  whole 
street  in  which  the  drunken  Indian  had  been 
found  was  fined.'  From  very  early  times 
death  was  the  penalty  for  providing  Indians 
with  firearms,  or  any  munitions  of  war.4 

Other  offences  less  serious  than  these,  and 
generally  of  a  personal  character,  were  none 
the  less  deemed  a  menace  to  the  dignity  of 
the  colony,  and  as  early  as  1638,  a  record  is 
opened  of  curious  sins,  and  still  more  droll 
punishments.  A  certain  Hendrick  Jansen, 
convicted  of  having  slandered  the  Governor, 
is  compelled  to  stand  at  the  Fort  gates  at  the 
ringing  of  the  bell,  and  to  ask  the  Governor's 
pardon.6 

The  Reverend  E.  Bogardus — who  had  suc- 
ceeded Dominie  Megapolensis  as  pastor  of  the 
church  within  the  Fort — is  "scandalized  by  a 


Earliest 
puntsbs 
mente 


86 


prisons  anfc  punisbments 


TTbe 
3Bogat&u0 


female,"  who  is  forthwith  summoned  to  ap- 
pear, also  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell,  and  "to 
declare  before  the  council  that  she  knew  he 
was  honest  and  pious,  and  that  she  had  lied 
falsely."  The  Bogardus  family  seem  to  have 
been  the  objects  of  something  like  animosity  on 
the  part  of  their  fellow-citizens,  for  presently 
the  wife  of  the  reverend  gentleman  is  ac- 
cused of  "having  drawn  up  her  petticoat  a 
little  way."  Several  people  were  involved  in 
this  case,  among  whom  was  Hendrick  Jansen, 
perhaps  the  same  who  had  slandered  the 
Governor,  seeking  an  indirect  revenge  for  his 
own  public  humiliation. 

A  Solomon-like  judgment  is  that  in  another 
slander  case,  in  which  Jan  Jansen  complains 
of  a  party  who  has  "lied  falsely"  about  him, 
and  each  side  is  ordered  to  contribute  twenty- 
five  guilders  to  the  poor  box  !  Guyshert  Van 
Regerslard,  apparently  a  sailor  on  the  yacht 
' '  Hope, "  having  drawn  his  knife  upon  a  fellow, 
was  sentenced  to  receive  three  stripes  from 
each  of  the  crew,  and  to  throw  himself  three 
times  from  the  sail-yard  of  the  yacht. 

The  famous  wooden  horse  makes  his  entry 
into  the  annals  of  the  city  in  December,  1638, 
when  two  soldiers  were  condemned  to  be- 
stride him  for  two  hours.  This  punishment 
seems  to  have  been  brought  from  Holland, 
where  it  had  long  been  used  as  a  military 
discipline.  The  horse  had  a  razor-like  back, 


©lt>  prisons  ant>  punisbments 


upon  which  the  prisoner  was  forced  to  sit, 
while  weights  and  chains  were  hung  on  his 
feet. 

The  only  recorded  case  of  any  criminal  pro- 
ceedings during  the  days  of  the  Fort  is  that 
of  Manuel  Gerrit.' 

More  serious  attempts  at  local  discipline 
began  in  1642,  when  the  Stadt  Huys  was 
erected  on  Dock,  now  Pearl  Street,7  at  the  head 
of  Coenties  Slip.  This  building,  which  Kieft 
had  ordered  for  the  Company's  tavern,  soon 
entered  on  its  generous  career  as  tavern,  court, 
city  hall,  and  prison  combined.  All  the  courts 
and  public  meetings  of  the  citizens  were  held 
here,  and  although  there  were  two  stories — 
with  perhaps  a  third  under  the  gables — only 
one  small  room  on  the  first  floor  in  the  rear 
could  be  spared  for  the  prisoners.  Their 
quarters  were  nevertheless  far  more  ample, 
and  their  doings  more  carefully  regulated  than 
they  had  been  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Fort. 

The  Provost  Marshal,  as  combined  sheriff, 
warden,  policeman,  and  jailer,  had  entire  com- 
mand of  the  prison,  and  frequent  ordinances 
controlled  his  various  duties.8  He  was  to  live 
in  the  town,  where  a  dwelling  was  provided 
for  him.  He  was  to  visit  the  prison  constantly, 
to  feed  and  lock  up  the  prisoners,  and  to  be  re- 
sponsible for  the  keys  and  for  the  state  of  the 
locks,  taking  especial  care  that  no  "file  or  rope 
or  anything  sharp  "  be  left  on  the  premises. 


prison 
intbe 
StaM 

tJUVS 


88 


{prisons  ano  punisbments 


•Cbe 
provost 

flftarsbal's 
powers 

and  Duties 


The  weight  and  amount  of  irons  necessary 
to  secure  each  prisoner,  were  determined  at 
his  condemnation,  by  the  Fiscal,  and  the  Pro- 
vost was  at  liberty  to  alter  the  fetters  only 
when  a  prisoner  had  attempted  to  break  out,  or 
had  in  other  ways  proved  himself  dangerous. 

The  Provost  had  power  to  place  in  confine- 
ment any  persons  brought  to  him,  on  condition 
that  he  make  a  report  at  once  to  the  Fiscal. 
Many  persons  thus  committed  were  mutinous 
sailors  who  had  been  thrown  into  irons  while 
on  the  high  seas,  and  on  landing  were  handed 
over  to  the  authorities  by  their  ship  captains. 
A  mariner  bringing  any  strange  or  foreign 
passengers  to  port,  was  forced  to  register  them 
on  pain  of  a  fine  of  forty  shillings.  He  was 
also  commanded  to  report  pirates  ;  and  "An 
Act  for  Restraining  and  Punishing  Privateers 
and  Pirates"  declared  that  such  should  be 
"fellons"  and  should  suffer  "pains  of  death 
without  benefit  01  clergy."' 

Any  soldiers  found  with  drawn  swords 
either  within  their  barracks  or  on  the  street 
were  liable  to  arrest  by  the  Provost.  Any 
persons  drawing  knives  and  inflicting  any 
wounds  whatever  were  fined  fifty  florins,  or, 
in  default,  were  sent,  "without  respect  of 
persons,"  to  work  three  months  with  the 
negroes  in  chains.  A  few  years  later,  in 
1647,  the  penalties  were  doubled — one  hun- 
dred florins  or  six  months'  hard  labor.10 


prisons  anfc  ipunfsbments 


The  number  of  slight  offences  against  which 
it  was  thought  necessary  to  issue  ordinances, 
increased  each  year,  but  in  most  cases  only 
"arbitrary  correction"  or  "corporal  punish- 
ment "  was  threatened.  These,  however,  are 
mentioned  constantly.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
the  old  prints  always  represent  the  whipping- 
post and  pillory,  which  stood  in  front  of  the 
Stadt  Huys,  as  provided  with  incumbents.11 
"  Corporal  punishment "  could  be  admin- 
istered "  in  the  discretion  of  the  magistrates 
provided  it  did  not  endanger  Life  or  Limb," 
and  the  whippings  so  ordered  were  applied 
either  by  the  public  whipper  or  by  any  other 
person  desirous  of  undertaking  the  same ! ia  A 
fine  opportunity  for  a  personal  and  yet  author- 
ized revenge. 

For  every  prisoner  committed  to  jail  the 
Marshal  and  bell-ringer  received  one  shilling 
each,  while  the  Judge's  fee  was  five  shillings 
for  each  indictment.11  The  Marshal  was  paid 
twelve  stivers  a  day  for  the  support  of  each 
prisoner.  The  bill  of  fare  was  prescribed  in 
advance  by  the  Company,  and  was  to  consist, 
weekly,  of  the  following  rations : T 

One  and  a  half  Ibs.  of  beef 
Three  quarters  of  a  Ib.  of  pork 
Onelb.  offish 
One  gill  of  oil 
One  gill  of  vinegar 
Suitable  pottage,  and 
A  Supply  of  Bread 


Ube 
HQIbipp(n$ 

post  ani> 


9o 


prisons  anfc  punisbments 


iPCfSCCUs 

tion  of  tbe 
Quakers 


Social  offenders  were  not  the  only  ones  who 
suffered  under  the  Marshal's  hands,  or  behind 
his  bars.  Religious  persecution  had  already 
set  in,  and  Governor  Stuyvesant,  in  spite  of 
injunctions  issued  against  him  by  the  mother 
country,  was  busying  himself  with  devising 
humiliations  for  the  Quakers. 

In  1657,  a  number  of  them  were  thrust  into 
the  Stadt  Huys  prison  for  several  weeks,  and 
Robert  Hodgson,  who  had  imprudently  tried 
to  preach,  was  fined  and  scourged,  thrust  into 
a  cell,  and  chained  to  a  wheelbarrow  ;  but  all 
in  vain.  He  refused  to  acknowledge  himself 
guilty  of  any  law-breaking,  and  finally,  after 
he  had  suffered  the  most  frightful  tortures,  he 
was  released  on  the  intercession  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's sister,  Mistress  Bayard.8  John  Bowne 
was  freed  from  prison  only  to  be  banished; 
and  many  others  were  thrust  upon  the  wooden 
horse,  or  into  the  stocks  ;  while  any  one 
housing  a  Friend  was  fined  fifty  pounds. 

It  was  many  years  later,  in  1694,  that  the 
persecuted  sect  seems  to  have  won  its  first 
concession,  by  an  "  Act  to  Ease  Peple  that  are 
scrupulous  in  Swearing."  This  new  law 
allowed  a  solemn  "promise  before  God"  to 
have  the  force  of  an  oath,  and  made  false 
promising  the  equivalent  of  perjury.14 

As  the  Provost's  duties  became  more  and 
more  complicated,  he  was  relieved  of  those 
which  lay  outside  the  prison,  and  they  were 


ipumsbments 


entrusted  to  a  second  official  called  the  Schout. 
This  personage  was  directly  subordinate,  how- 
ever, to  the  Koopman,  who  acted  as  secretary 
and  was  second  in  authority  to  the  council.' 
The  Schout  was  sheriff  and  prosecutor  all  in 
one,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  in- 
structions : 1S 

"...  He  shall  ex  officio  prosecute  all  contraveners, 
defrauders  and  transgressors  of  any  placards,  laws,  statutes, 
and  ordinances,  which  are  already  made  and  published  or 
shall  hereafter  be  enacted  and  made  public,  as  far  as  those 
are  amenable  before  the  Court  of  Burgomasters  and  Sche- 
pens,  and  with  this  understanding  that  having  entered  his 
suit  against  the  aforesaid  Contraveners,  he  shall  immediately 
rise,  and  await  the  judgment  of  Burgomasters  and  Schepens 
who  being  prepared  shall  also,  on  his  motion,  pronounce  the 
same.  ...  He  shall  take  care  that  all  judgments  are 
pronounced  .  .  .  according  to  the  stile  and  custom  of 
Fatherland,  and  especially  the  city  of  Amsterdam." 

The  Schout  was  empowered  not  only  to 
complain  of  culprits  to  the  Burgomasters  and 
Schepens,  but  also  to  recommend  a  suitable 
penalty  for  the  offence.19  Fortunately  for  the 
cause  of  mercy,  the  magistrates  were  not 
bound  to  accept  his  suggestions,  many  of 
which  seem  more  severe  than  the  occasion 
required.  For  the  crime  of  impertinence  to 
the  Schout,  that  officer  demanded  that  a  sin- 
ner be  placed  on  bread  and  water  for  a  month. 
The  Schepens'  verdict  in  this  case  was  fifty 
guilders,  or  confinement  for  three  days; 
whereupon  the  defendant  remarked  that  the 


Ube 

Scbout  or 

Sbcvifl  an? 

bis  Un= 

structions 


©ID  prisons  anD  punisbments 


Various 
{Trials  an! 

CcrCtcts 


devil  would  take  him  who  should  first  attempt 
to  arrest  him. 

Another  mutinous  prisoner  who  had  in- 
sulted the  Fiscal,  De  Sille,  and  his  wife, — "so 
that  they  had  to  have  the  soldiers  called," — 
being  ordered  to  pay  a  fine  of  two  hundred 
guilders,  exclaimed  that  he  "would  rot  in 
prison  first!  "  And  opportunity  to  do  so  was 
promptly  afforded  him. 

For  a  small  theft,  the  Schout  recommended 
scourging  at  the  post  and  banishment  for  four 
years,  but  the  culprit  was  let  off  with  a  few 
days  in  a  certain  part  of  the  Stadt  Huys.  An- 
other, however,  met  with  all  that  the  Schout 
asked;  was  scourged,  gashed  on  the  cheek, 
and  banished  for  twenty-five  years,  all  for 
having  noisily  demanded  wine  in  a  private 
house. 

A  little  maid  of  ten,  Lysbet  Anthony,  was 
arrested  by  the  Schout  in  the  act  of  stealing, 
and  brought  before  the  council  with  vigorous 
demands  for  imprisonment  on  bread  and 
water.  The  common-sense  verdict,  however, 
was  that  "Mary  her  mother  be  ordered  to 
chastise  her  with  rods  in  the  presence  of  the 
Worshipful  Magistrates." 

The  Schout's  sense  of  his  duty  evidently 
did  not  stop  at  the  living  sinners  under  his 
jurisdiction.  He  pulled  the  poor  suicide, 
Hendrick  Smith,  from  the  tree  where  he  had 
hanged  himself,  and  brought  the  body  to 


©ID  prisons  ano  punisbments 

93 

court  that  it  might  be  drawn  about  town  on 
a  hurdle  and  then  shoved  under  the  same  tree 
again.      But  the  Worshipful  Magistrates  lis- 
tened to  the  pleas  of  the  neighbors  and  the 
good  reports  of  the  suicide's  character,  and 
finally  accorded  the  body  decent  burial. 
The  charges  of  the  hard-worked  Schout 
were  adapted  to  his  broad  field  of  duty,  as 
may  be  seen  by  the  table  published  in  1693:  " 

£   *    d 

"  Serving  a  writ,  taking  into  custody,  and  bail 
Bond  (without  any  pretence  of  riding  in  the 
county)      .0      60 

TTbe 
Scbout's 

ifces 

Returning  a  writ    o      i     o 
A  venire  o      30 

Returning  the  same     o       i     o 
Serving  an  execution  under  100  pound     .     .     .     o      50 
Every  ten  pound  more     o       i     o 

Serving  a  writ  of  possession  0120 
Scire  facias  serving  and  return    030 
Every  person  committed  into  the  common  prison,     030 

"...     In  criminal  matters  fees  to  be  correspondingly 
the  same." 

The  Stadt  Huys  continued  to  serve  as  the 
civil  and  judicial  centre  of  the  town  through 
its  first  period  of  domination  by  the  English  ; 
again  during  the  Dutch  restoration,  and  even 
after  the  English   power  was  finally  estab- 
lished,  until    1699,   when   the  building  was 
condemned  as   unsound,    and   sold  to  John 
Rodman."      The  Government   removed  the 
bell,  the  King's  arms,  iron-work,  fetters,  and 

94 


prisons  ant)  punisbments 


•Cbc  Sail 

intbe 

Cits  Dad 


other  accessories  01  the  prison,  and  reserved 
the  right  to  have  the  "cage,  pillory,  and 
stocks  before  the  same  remain  one  year,  and 
prisoners  within  said  jail  within  the  same  City 
Hall  remain  one  month,"  after  the  sale.3 

The  new  City  Hall  was  on  the  site  of  the 
present  United  States  Sub-Treasury  building 
in  Wall  Street,  fronting  Broad  Street,  on  the 
corner  of  Nassau.  It  was  completed  in  1700, 
and  was  a  fine  building  for  the  time,  though 
it  did  not  suit  the  "Congress"  until  numer- 
ous alterations  had  been  made.  The  whole 
building  projected  over  the  street,  and  formed 
an  imposing  arcade  across  the  sidewalk,  un- 
der the  lower  story.10  The  ground  floor  was 
an  "  open  walk"  except  for  the  jailer's  rooms. 

As  soon  as  it  was  ready  to  open  its  doors 
for  the  courts  and  public  meetings,  it  received 
also  the  prisoners,  who  were  put  in  the  base- 
ment. Later,  the  cellar  below  was  used  as  a 
dungeon  for  dangerous  characters,  while  debt- 
ors and  other  transients  were  lodged  in  the 
garret.18 

The  stocks  and  pillory  were  not  placed  im- 
mediately in  front  of  the  prison  this  time,  but 
were  on  Broad  Street,  a  little  below  Wall. 
From  here  the  cart  used  to  start  when  crimi- 
nals were  whipped  around  town  at  its  tail, 
and  here,  too,  were  formed  the  processions 
which  attended  the  wooden  horse  and  its  un- 
lucky rider.  The  victim  at  this  time  was  put 


prisons  and  flMmfsbments 


95 


on  the  horse,  and  then  both  were  placed  in 
the  cart  and  trotted  up  and  down,  with  added 
suffering  and  humiliation.  In  honor  of  the 
first  person  treated  to  the  torture  in  its  im- 
proved form,  this  device  was  always  after 
called  "the  horse  of  Mary  Price." 

The  city  at  this  time  was  obliged  to  main- 
tain a  long  list  of  officials :  a  mayor,  recorder, 
town  clerk,  six  aldermen,  six  assistants,  one 
chamberlain  or  treasurer,  one  sheriff,  one 
coroner,  one  clerk  of  the  market,  one  high 
constable,  seven  sub-constables,  and  one 
marshal  or  sergeant-at-mace.  The  mayor, 
recorder,  and  aldermen  might  commit  any 
persons  for  misdemeanors,  and  the  mayor 
and  aldermen  alone  were  to  try  offenders  who 
could  not  give  bail.  The  sheriff  was  appointed 
yearly,  and  was  obliged  to  give  "a  thousand 
pounds  bonds  for  his  faithfulness."11  There 
were  also  a  number  of  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  the  prevailing  impression  seems  to  have 
been  that  they  were  not  only  too  numerous 
but  too  ignorant.  Many  of  them  were  ap- 
pointed with  no  higher  qualification  than  a 
seven  years'  apprenticeship  in  some  clerk's 
office.19  The  Court  of  Chancery  was  also  very 
obnoxious  to  the  people,  and  altogether  it  was 
an  open  question  whether  New  York,  with 
her  complicated  system  imported  from  the 
mother  country,  or  New  England,  with  her 
own  cruder  experiments  and  innovations,  was 


Ube 
City's 

Officers 


96 


prisons  ano  jpunisbments 


Urfal- 


•Regro 
plot 


the  better  fitted  to  cope  with  new  and  prob- 
lematic conditions. 

The  City  Hall  was  the  only  prison  until 
about  1760,  and  it  must  therefore  have  been 
in  one  of  its  rooms  that  Zenger  was  con- 
fined20 during  his  notable  struggle  for  the 
freedom  of  the  press.81  Here,  too,  suffered 
the  negroes  and  the  whites  concerned  with 
them  in  the  supposed  plot  ot  i74i.ai 

After  this  great  panic  the  blacks  were  more 
carefully  restricted.  They  were  not  allowed 
to  sell  anything  at  any  price  whatever,  on 
pain  of  a  fine  of  five  pounds  or  under;  and  if 
more  than  three  of  them  met  and  talked  to- 
gether anywhere,  they  were  to  be  arrested 
and  whipped  at  the  post." 

At  the  same  time  several  new  penalties 
were  established.  Any  person  working  on 
the  Lord's  Day  was  fined  ten  shillings ;  and 
children  breaking  the  Sabbath  by  playing,  one 
shilling.  It  was  forbidden  to  build  on  any 
street  not  yet  laid  out,  on  pain  of  forty  shil- 
lings,— rather  a  tardy  effort  to  guard  against 
tangled  city  streets.  Six  shillings  was  the 
fine  exacted  from  a  householder  who  had  no 
fire  buckets,  or  who  did  not  keep  them  in  good 
condition ;  and  firemen  who  failed  to  answer 
the  alarm  bell  promptly  were  also  fined. 

For  many  years  the  jail  in  the  basement  of 
the  City  Hall  had  been  pronounced  unsafe, 
and  in  1727,  extra  precautions  were  taken  by 


©ID  prisons  anfc  puntsbments 


97 


appointing  a  watch  of  four  men  to  guard  it 
and  prevent  escapes.  In  this  same  year,  too, 
a  new  gallows  was  placed  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  Fields."  About  1756,  though  the  date 
cannot  be  ascertained  within  a  decade,  a  new 
stone  prison,  with  four  stories,  grated  win- 
dows, and  a  cupola,24  was  erected  in  its  neigh- 
borhood.10 This,  the  first  real  jail  of  the  city, 
still  stands  as  the  Hall  of  Records,  at  the 
northeastern  corner  of  the  City  Hall  Park. 

It  was  called  at  first  the  New  Gaol,  but 
from  the  wretched  purpose  it  served,  soon 
won  the  title  of  the  Debtors'  Prison.  The 
history  of  imprisonment  for  debt  is  a  long 
record  of  stupid  injustice;  and  nowhere  was 
its  folly  more  bitterly  fruitful  than  in  old  New 
York.  It  was  upon  the  laborers  and  mechan- 
ics, who  relied  wholly  on  their  daily  efforts 
for  their  daily  bread,  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
growing  city  depended;  and  they  were,  of 
course,  the  very  people  most  likely  to  get  into 
debt.  Let  a  workingman  fall  ill,  and  imme- 
diately on  his  recovery  he  would  be  clapped 
into  jail,  because  he  had  not  paid  for  his  pro- 
visions and  medicine;  while  the  family  either 
starved  or  piled  up  more  debts,  which  kept 
him  still  longer  in  idle  captivity.26  An  adver- 
tisement in  a  newspaper  of  the  time"  shows 
both  the  painful  condition  of  the  men  thus 
confined,  and  the  peculiar  attitude  of  the  pub- 
lic toward  them. 


ttbe 

Debtors' 
prison 


©ID  prisons  anD  punisbments 


Imprisons 

ment  for 

Debt 


"The  Debtors  confined  in  the  Gaol  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  impressed  with  a  grateful  sense  of  the  obligations 
they  are  under  to  a  respectable  publick  for  the  generous 
contributions  that  have  been  made  to  them,  beg  leave  to 
return  their  hearty  thanks,  .  .  .  because  they  have 
been  .  .  .  preserved  from  perishing  in  a  dreary  prison, 
from  hunger  and  cold." 

Among  these  men  was  one  Major  Rogers, 
who  was  the  innocent  cause  of  a  serious  riot. 
The  soldiers,  to  evince  their  contempt  of  civil 
power,  forced  an  entrance  into  the  Gaol,  and 
demanded  his  person.  They  opened  all  the 
doors,  and  told  the  prisoners  they  had  leave 
to  depart  freely,  which,  says  the  chronicler, 
they  were  "too  honourabel  to  do";  and  the 
only  real  outcome  of  the  disturbance  was  the 
death  of  one  of  the  sergeants." 

The  Fields — later  called  the  Common,  and 
now  the  Park — was  in  1769,  and  the  years  fol- 
lowing, so  decidedly  the  centre  of  the  struggle 
for  Independence,  that  it  has  been  called  "  the 
Fanueil  Hall  of  New  York."  It  was  the  scene 
of  many  of  the  riotous  meetings  of  the  Sons 
of  Liberty,  and  the  poles  repeatedly  erected  by 
them  and  torn  down  by  the  soldiery  stood  at 
its  northwestern  corner.  The  handbill  calling 
one  of  these  meetings,  though  signed  merely 
"A  Son  of  Liberty,"  was  traced  to  the  office 
of  James  Parker,  and  he  was  thrust  into  the 
still  extant  dungeon  in  the  Fort."  The  printer 
then  betrayed  the  writer,  Alexander  McDou- 


prisons  anfc  flMmfsbments 


99 


gall,  who  many  years  later  was  to  be  the 
Major-General  in  charge  of  West  Point.  He 
too  was  arrested,  and  thrown  into  the  Debtors' 
Prison;  whence  in  April,  1770,  he  was  re- 
leased on  bail  to  await  his  trial. 

While  confined  there  he  published  a  "per- 
sonal" in  the  New  York  Journal,  inviting  his 
friends  to  an  original  kind  of  afternoon  tea."9 
He  would  be,  he  notified  them,  "  Glad  of  the 
Honour  of  their  Company  from  Three  O'clock 
in  the  afternoon  till  Six,"  and  the  date  affixed 
was  "New  Gaol,  February  10,  1770." 

As  the  Debtors'  Prison  was  not  large  enough 
to  accommodate  all  classes  of  prisoners,  the 
city  authorities  had  seen  fit  to  order  a  new 
city  jail;80  and  in  1775,  the  Bridewell  came  to 
make  part  of  the  historic  surroundings  of  the 
Common.  It  stood  to  the  west  of  the  Debtors' 
Prison,  between  Broadway  and  the  site  of  the 
present  City  Hall,  and  would  have  been  a 
handsome  building  if  the  original  design,  call- 
ing for  a  pediment  and  columns,  had  ever 
been  carried  out.  It  was  of  dark  gray  stone, 
two  stories  high,  and  contained,  on  the  ground 
floor  the  jailer's  quarters  and  the  famous 
Long  Room  for  common  prisoners, — on  the 
upper  story,  apartments  for  the  better  class  of 
convicts.20 

It  was  not  finished,  however,  when  the 
Revolution  opened  ;  and  on  the  twenty-sev- 
enth of  August,  1776,  when  the  British  took 


Blcrantcr 
flDcDous 
gall— Ube 
JBri&ewell 


<S>U>  prisons  an&  punisbments 


•Cbe 

JSritisb 

Occupas 

tion 


possession  of  the  city,  they  found  not  only  the 
wooden  barracks  just  abandoned  by  Wash- 
ington's troops,  but  the  Debtors'  Prison  on 
one  side  and  the  new  Bridewell  on  the  other, 
all  empty,  and  ready  for  their  occupation. 

The  Debtors'  Prison  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  wicked  Provost  Marshal  Cunningham, 
and  was  thereafter  called  The  Provost.  It  was 
made  the  principal  prison,  though  besides  the 
Bridewell  and  old  City  Hall,  the  British  pressed 
into  military  service  the  old  sugar  houses,  the 
churches,  Columbia  College,  the  hospital,  and 
the  abandoned,  half-rotten  ships-of-war  in  the 
Bay.31  Space  requires  the  omission  of  any 
details  regarding  these  temporary  prisons, 
whose  interesting  history  does  not,  strictly 
speaking,  form  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
prisons  of  the  city. 

The  Provost  and  its  peculiar  terrors  were 
reserved  for  the  most  important  prisoners. 
Compared  to  the  physical  sufferings  of  the 
men  confined  in  the  hulks  of  the  Jersey,™ 
and  the  other  "floating  hells,"  as  they  were 
termed,  the  discomforts  of  the  prisoners  in 
the  Provost  were  mild.  Though  they  were 
too  cold,  and  frightfully  crowded,  they  had 
less  disease  and  degradation  to  contend  with. 
But  Cunningham  was  a  tyrant  who  did  not 
stop  half  way.  His  was  a  reign  of  terror,  and 
a  secret  scourge,  searing-iron,  and  gallows, 
awaited  the  unfortunate  man  who  furnished 


prisons  anfc  punisbments 


IOI 


him  with  the  slightest  excuse  for  persecution. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever  executed 
any  one  without  trial;  but  his  trials  may  have 
been  conducted  in  a  cursory  manner.  The 
gallows,  which  was  practically  a  private  insti- 
tution of  his  own,  stood  on  a  little  hill  in 
Chambers  Street;  and  thither  he  is  said  to 
have  accompanied  his  victims  in  person,  after 
giving  orders  that  all  householders  along  the 
route  from  there  to  the  prison  should  close 
their  windows  on  pain  of  death.  He  took 
care  to  make  this  gallows  a  terror  by  keeping 
it  always  occupied;  and  when  a  real  man  was 
lacking,  he  would  fill  it  with  an  effigy  of  Han- 
cock or  some  other  obnoxious  rebel." 

This  infamous  marshal  deliberately  allowed 
many  men  to  starve  by  reducing  or  withhold- 
ing their  rations  to  enrich  himself.  The  ex- 
tent of  his  crimes  is  unknown,  and  it  is  useless 
to  catalogue  their  reported  horrors.  Some 
writers  relate  that  he  was  hanged  at  Tyburn 
shortly  after  his  return  to  England,3  and  even 
give  in  detail  his  dying  confession,  in  which 
he  says :  '* 

"...  I  shudder  to  think  of  the  murders  I  have 
been  accessory  to — both  with  and  without  orders  from  gov- 
ernment— especially  while  in  New  York,  during  which  time 
there  were  more  than  two  thousand  starved  in  the  churches 
by  stopping  their  rations,  which  I  sold.  There  were  also 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  American  prisoners  executed 
.  .  .  hung  without  ceremony,  and  then  buried  by  the 
Black  Pioneer  of  the  Provost.  ." 


Gunning* 

bam  an? 

bts1Rc= 

portc5 

Cruelties 


IO2 


prisons  anfc  jpunisbments 


£tban 
Rllon 


This  interesting  document  is,  however,  al- 
most a  palpable  fabrication.  No  record  has 
ever  been  found  of  any  such  execution,  either 
at  Tyburn  or  elsewhere;  and  the  best  authori- 
ties insist  that  Cunningham  died  peacefully 
many  years  later,  in  a  country  home." 

The  most  notable  01  Cunningham's  prison- 
ers was  Ethan  Allen,  who,  having  been  re- 
leased on  parole  in  New  York,  was  seized  in 
January,  1777,  and  thrust  into  solitary  con- 
finement, in  spite  of  his  energetic  denial  of 
the  charge  that  he  had  broken  his  parole.  He 
had  been  first  taken  at  Montreal  in  1776, 
transported  to  England,  and  after  a  painful 
voyage  brought  back  to  New  York.  Here 
General  Howe  offered  him  a  commission, 
with  the  promise  of  large  tracts  of  land  in 
Vermont  at  the  close  of  the  war,  if  he  would 
only  "desert  his  lost  cause,  and  serve  his 
King";  but  Allen  replied  that  he  did  not  think 
the  king  would  have  enough  land  in  America 
at  the  close  of  the  war  to  redeem  any  such 
promise." 

When  he  had  been  some  eight  months  in 
the  Provost,  he  seems  to  have  begun  to  chafe 
under  the  apparent  neglect  of  his  countrymen ; 
as  Joseph  Webb  writes  to  Governor  Trum- 
bull,  in  a  letter  arranging  for  an  exchange  of 
prisoners : " 

"  Ethan  Allen  begs  me  to  represent  his  Situation  to  You 
that  he  has  been  a  most  Attached  friend  to  America  and  he 


©lo  prisons  anfc  punisbments  103 


says  he 's  forgot — he  's  spending  his  Life,  his  very  prime  and 
now  is  confm'd  in  the  Provost  and  they  say  for  breaking  his       Plan  of 
parole  without  he  own's  it  in  part — I  cou'd  wish  some  of  tbe 

'em  wou'd  be  more  prudent." 

Allen  was  exchanged  in  May,  1778,  not 
long  after  this,  and  joined  Washington  at 
Valley  Forge.*8 

The  Provost  had  at  this  time  been  strength- 
ened by  the  British.  Barricades  had  been 
erected  between  the  external  and  internal  lob- 
bies, and  grated  doors  placed  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs,  where  sentinels  were  stationed 
night  and  day.  On  the  right  of  the  main  hall 
was  the  Marshal's  room,  now  the  Register's 
office,  and  opposite  was  the  guard,  and  the 
chamber  of  O'Keefe,  Cunningham's  deputy 
and  accomplice.  Most  of  the  prisoners  were 
confined  on  the  second  floor,  in  the  northeast 
chamber,  ironically  called  "Congress  Hall"; 
and  it  is  here  that  they  were  so  crowded  as 
they  lay  down  in  rows  on  the  floor,  that  when 
one  wished  to  turn  over,  he  had  to  wake  all 
the  others,  and  give  the  word  of  command 
for  all  to  turn  at  once. 

It  was  to  the  door  of  this  room  that  Cun- 
ningham ushered  his  guests,  drunk  as  himself, 
after  a  luxurious  dinner,  while  he  exhibited  his 
prisoners  as  one  would  a  cage  of  animals. 

"There  is  that  d d  rebel,  Ethan  Allen, 

sir,"  he  would  cry;  "Allen!  get  up  and  walk 
around!"39 


104 


prisons  anfc  punisbments 


Condition 
of  tbc 

prisoners 


It  is  to  be  said,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
while  the  seamen  on  the  Jersey  were  being 
exposed  to  small-pox  and  abandoned  to  filth 
and  starvation,"  the  crowded  inmates  of 
"Congress  Hall"  were  carefully  guarded 
against  disease  and  vermin.  Their  packs  and 
blankets  were  aired  every  morning  and  then 
hung  on  the  walls  during  the  day ;  and  in  ill- 
ness they  received  medical  attention.8' 

When  the  British  troops  evacuated  the  city, 
Cunningham  and  his  deputy  were  among  the 
last  to  leave.  In  the  Provost  there  were  still 
a  few  prisoners,  and  as  O'Keefe  prepared  to 
rush  off  they  cried  out  to  know  what  was  to 
become  of  them. 

"  You  may  go  to  the  Devil ! "  he  exclaimed, 
throwing  the  keys  on  the  floor. 

"Thank  you,"  they  replied;  "We  have 
had  enough  of  your  company  in  this  world." 

The  chief  sufferings  of  the  American  patriots 
in  the  Bridewell  arose  from  the  extreme  cold, 
for  the  unfinished  building  had  only  iron  grat- 
ings at  the  windows.40  There  were  several 
old  veterans  who  claimed  to  have  been  among 
eight  hundred  and  sixteen  prisoners-of-war 
confined  in  these  crowded  quarters  from  Satur- 
day to  the  following  Thursday,  without  food 
of  any  kind.41  No  deaths  are  mentioned, 
however,  and  as  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  a 
large  body  of  exhausted  and  wounded  soldiers 
can  have  survived  such  treatment,  the  story 


{prisons  ant)  punisbments 


lacks  credibility.  It  is  certain  that  the  rations 
of  the  prisoners  here  were  at  times  withheld 
from  them,  but  the  reports  that  many  men 
had  been  poisoned  by  the  physicians  have 
never  been  verified." 

When  Washington  at  one  time  complained 
that  the  men  who  had  been  released  from 
New  York  were  in  such  desperate  condition 
that  they  were  not  a  fair  exchange  lor  the 
British  prisoners,  Howe  replied:  " 

"...  All  the  prisoners  are  confined  in  the  most  airy 
buildings  and  on  board  the  largest  transports  of  the  fleet, 
which  are  the  very  healthiest  places  that  could  possibly  be 
provided  for  them.  They  are  supplied  with  the  same  pro- 
visions as  are  allowed  to  the  King's  troops  not  on  -service, 
.  .  .  the  sick  are  separated  and  especially  cared  for  by 
surgeons.  .  .  ." 

At  the  same  time  Congress  was  publishing 
in  its  Journal,  regarding  the  prisoners  in  New 
York; 

"...  Many  of  them  were  near  four  days  kept  with- 
out food  altogether.  When  they  received  a  supply,  it  was 
both  insufficient  in  point  of  quantity,  and  often  of  the  worst 
kind.  They  suffered  the  utmost  distress  from  cold,  naked- 
ness, and  close  confinement." 

If  we  balance  the  official  assertions  on  each 
side,  we  may  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
extreme  stories  of  both  should  be  discredited 
altogether.  The  tales,  however,  were  be- 
lieved by  many  who  heard  them  and  by  some 


Conflicts 

ing 
Cvi&ence 


io6 


©It)  prisons  anfc  punisbments 


Close 

of  tbe 

tftevolu* 

tton 


who  told  them,  and  they  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  minds  of  the  people  at  the  time.40 

After  the  Revolution  the  Provost  was  again 
used  for  debtors,  and  at  one  time  five  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  number  of  citizens  were  im- 
prisoned for  debt."  Much  of  the  misery  was 
done  away  with  in  1817,  when  the  laws  were 
so  amended  as  to  confine  only  those  who  had 
incurred  debts  for  amounts  larger  than  twenty- 
five  dollars.44 

About  1787,  the  Provost  was  again  the 
scene  of  a  riot.45  The  methods  employed  by 
some  doctors  for  obtaining  bodies  for  dissec- 
tion had  aroused  the  most  bitter  feeling  against 
the  whole  profession.20  A  mob  gathered, 
and  assailed  the  houses  of  the  obnoxious 
physicians,  while  their  friends  covered  their 
hasty  retreat  to  the  jail.  There  the  mob  fol- 
lowed them  and  did  much  damage,  both  to 
the  police,  and  to  the  citizens,  who  made  a 
feeble  defence  at  the  prison  door.  One  of  the 
doctors  was  "  wounded  by  a  stone  which 
laid  him  up  some  time,  in  the  head,"  and  the 
riot  was  quelled  only  by  promises  of  reform. 

A  drawing  of  City  Hall  Park  made  by  W. 
G.  Wall  in  1826,  pictures  the  Hall  of  Records 
as  of  pale  gray  stone,  while  the  Bridewell  is 
green,  with  tan  blinds.  A  note  in  the  corner 
explains  that  the  artist  did  not  "feel  justified 
in  representing  the  foliage  of  the  Park  as  in  a 
handsome  state,  because  it  was  n't,  being 


prisons  ano  punisbments 


107 


much  affected  with  caterpillars."  10  One  might 
question  whether  this  gentleman  had  been 
equally  conscientious,  when  he  sprinkled  the 
foreground  with  ladies  in  hoops  and  poke 
bonnets. 

In  1830,  the  Provost  ceased  to  be  used  as  a 
prison,  and  was  prepared  to  serve  as  the 
Register's  office.  The  bell  was  taken  down 
and  remounted  as  a  fire-alarm  on  the  roof  of 
the  Bridewell.  The  front  and  back  of  the 
dingy  edifice  were  pretentiously  decorated 
with  columns  like  those  of  the  temple  of  Diana 
at  Ephesus;49  and  since  then,  the  space  thus 
made  has  been  again  walled  in  so  that  the 
columns  now  appear  as  mere  pilasters.  In 
1835,  the  building  was  ready  for  the  purpose 
which  it  has  served  ever  since  ;  and  to-day 
the  title  deeds  to  all  the  real  estate  in  the  city 
are  preserved  under  its  venerable  roof.38 

As  for  the  Old  Bridewell,  if  tradition  be  true, 
it  followed  the  injunction  regarding  coals  of 
fire  ;  for  in  the  war  of  1812,  many  English 
captives  were  confined  there,  and  are  said  to 
have  been  treated  by  the  keeper,  old  Tom 
Hazzard,  with  marked  kindness,  and  even  to 
have  been  fed  in  secret  at  his  own  expense 
when  he  considered  their  rations  insufficient." 

After  this  second  experience  as  a  war  prison, 
the  Bridewell  resumed  its  uneventful  career  as 
the  general  city  jail.  At  first,  trials  were  held 
only  four  times  a  year,  and  prisoners  commit- 


Destrucs 

tion  of 

tbe 

Debtors' 
prison 


io8 


prisons  ano  ipunisbments 


ttbe 
"Combs 


ted  for  slight  offences  would  perhaps  have  to 
await  examination  for  nearly  three  months. 
Some  time  before  1828,  however,  the  court 
began  to  be  held  every  month.  The  prison- 
ers were  here  made  to  pick  oakum  or  were 
employed  on  the  city  works,  and  this  attempt 
at  prison  labor  seems  to  have  succeeded  bet- 
ter than  the  earlier  experiments  at  Greenwich 
prison,  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently. 

Although  fairly  healthy  and  clean,  the  Bride- 
well was  far  too  small  to  suit  the  city's  grow- 
ing needs,  and  the  erection  of  the  present  City 
Hall,47-48  just  before  the  war  with  England, 
had  long  made  its  presence  in  the  crowded 
Park,  undesirable.  In  1838,  it  was  destroyed, 
some  of  its  stones  being  used  in  the  erection 
of  its  successor,  the  Hall  of  Justice  in  Centre 
Street — early  rechristened  "The  Tombs,"  on 
account  of  its  gloomy  Egyptian  exterior. 

The  old  Provost  bell,  which  had  served  as 
a  fire-alarm  on  the  Bridewell,  was  sent  to  the 
Naiad  Hose  Company's  station  in  Beaver 
Street,  to  continue  the  same  office.  It  was 
soon  after  destroyed  by  the  very  fire  to  which, 
for  the  last  time,  it  had  summoned  the  lines 
of  wooden  buckets. 

The  Bridewell  and  the  Provost  together  had 
thus  served  during  the  latter  years  of  their  ex- 
istence as  city  jails,  though  they  had  been 
built  for  special  purposes — the  one  for  debtors, 
the  other  for  a  long-term  prison.  Two  re- 


prisons  an&  punisbments 


109 


forms  had  merged  their  interests.  Imprison- 
ment for  debt  had  been  practically  abolished, 
and  the  Debtors'  Prison  thus  left  free  to  re- 
ceive other  inmates.  A  few  years  earlier  a 
much-needed  State's  Prison  had  been  erected, 
leaving  in  the  Bridewell,  too,  space  for  short 
commitments;  while  the  convicts  who  were 
sentenced  to  three  years  or  more  were  sent  to 
Greenwich. 

The  act  appropriating  about  $208,000 49  to 
relieve  the  crowded  prisons  of  the  city,  had  at 
first  provided  for  two  buildings,  one  to  be  at 
Albany ;  but  on  deliberation  it  was  decided  to 
devote  the  entire  fund  to  the  Greenwich  build- 
ing.60 It  was  ready  for  occupation  in  1797, 
and  seventy  prisoners  were  transferred  to  it 
from  the  other  prisons.  The  big  pile  stood  at 
the  head  of  Tenth  Street — then  Amos, — on  the 
bank  of  the  Hudson,  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  Bridewell  and  the  Provost.  Strange  to 
say,  the  fashionable  little  village  of  Greenwich 
seemed  not  to  resent  the  intrusion,  but  rather 
to  hail  it  as  raising  the  value  of  property,  and 
giving  a  stately  air  to  the  otherwise  rural 
scenery." 

It  was  the  handsomest  prison  and  one  of 
the  most  imposing  buildings  the  city  had  yet 
seen,  being  decorated  with  Doric  columns, 
surmounted  with  a  fine  cupola,  and  sur- 
rounded by  nearly  four  acres  of  grounds.  The 
whole  was  enclosed  by  a  stone  wall  fourteen 


Orcenwicb 
prison 


no 


prisons  ano  flMimsbments 


prison 
labor 


feet  high  in  the  front,  and  twenty-three  in  the 
back,  where  the  four  wings  extended  from  the 
main  building  down  to  the  river.  Beyond 
this  wall  was  the  wharf  where  were  landed 
convicts  sent  from  points  up  the  river.4' 

In  every  earlier  prison  the  criminals  had 
been  thrust  all  together  into  large  rooms." 
Here  an  approach  to  a  better  system  was 
made,  each  of  the  fifty-two  cells  lodging  three 
persons  only ;  while  there  were  also  twenty- 
eight  cells  for  solitary  confinement.  In  the 
north  wing  was  a  chapel,  in  the  south  a 
dining-room,  and  the  centre  was  given  up  to 
the  quarters  of  the  officers.  There  were  also 
good  cellars,  an  ice-house,  and  store-rooms 
of  various  kinds  ;  and  in  the  courtyard  there 
was  a  tank  where  the  prisoners  could  bathe, 
so  abundant  was  the  supply  of  water.  The 
women  were  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  north 
wing,  and  had  a  separate  courtyard." 

In  1787,  the  experiment  had  been  tried  in 
Philadelphia,  of  reserving  capital  punishment — 
which  had  been  the  penalty  of  a  dozen  differ- 
ent crimes — for  that  of  premeditated  murder 
alone."  In  New  York  many  offences  which 
are  now  termed  misdemeanors  had  been  pun- 
ishable with  long  imprisonment,  or  with  the 
humiliations  of  the  whipping-post  and  pillory. 
At  the  close  of  the  century  the  example  of  the 
Quaker  Commonwealth  began  to  be  followed, 
and  imprisonment  under  better  conditions, 


prisons  anfc  punishments 


with  stated  terms  and  definite  regulations, 
became  the  rule. 

The  greatest  importance  attaches  to  the  per- 
severing attempts  here  made  to  introduce 
prison  labor.  For  the  first  time  it  seemed  to 
have  entered  the  minds  of  the  authorities  that 
the  work  of  a  prison  should  be  not  only  to 
punish,  but  to  reform.  A  method  of  accom- 
plishing both  ends  was  suggested  to  them  by 
a  shoemaker  who  begged  for  occupation,  and 
proposed  to  make  himself  profitable  to  the  in- 
stitution,— inspiring  his  fellow-prisoners  to  do 
the  same."  Spacious  brick  workshops  went 
up  in  the  yards  of  the  Greenwich  prison.49  To 
a  certain  extent  the  men  were  permitted  to 
follow  their  own  callings.  If  a  man  had  none, 
one  was  assigned  him.  The  principal  trades 
were  weaving,  spinning,  shoe-  and  brush- 
making,  and  carpenter  work  ;  but  the  lock- 
smith's art  was  the  most  popular  among  the 
convicts,  who  hoped  to  profit  by  their  skill  in 
it  on  their  release.  For  twelve  hours  a  day 
they  were  compelled  to  work,  being  marched 
into  the  dining-hall  at  meal-times,  and  locked 
into  their  cells  at  night.  Each  convict  on  his 
arrival  was  compelled  to  strip  and  wash,  and 
dress  himself  in  the  striped  prison  uniform. 
This  was  always  made  in  the  prison,  and  was 
of  different  grades.  When  an  offender  was 
convicted  for  the  second  time,  the  right  side 
of  his  coat  and  left  of  his  trousers  were 


112 


prisons  ano  punisbments 


failure 
of  prison 

labor, 
and  of 


Svjstem 


black.  If  a  third  time,  he  wore  a  figure  3  on 
his  back,  and  his  food  was  coarser  and  less 
abundant  than  before." 

The  keeper's  salary  was  eight  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  rations  of  each  prisoner  came  to 
about  five  cents  a  day,  the  chief  items  being 
oxheads  and  hearts,  indian  meal  mush  and 
molasses,  pork,  black  bread,  and  "lambs' 
plucks." 

For  a  few  years  the  system  promised  won- 
ders ;  but  the  ease  of  communication  soon 
undid  everything.  The  numerous  escapes  and 
extreme  corruption  may  be  ascribed  to  three 
distinct  causes.  First,  the  solitary  cells  were 
too  few.  Second,  not  even  they  were  secure, 
as  they  were  not  connected  by  passages,  and 
so  could  not  be  easily  kept  under  watch. 
Third,  there  was  so  little  hope  of  pardon, 
that  the  men  were  incited  to  attempt  escapes, 
rather  than  to  win  commutations  of  their  sen- 
tences by  good  behavior." 

As  the  better  class  of  officials  became  dis- 
gusted with  the  inadequate  adaptation  of  the 
building  to  its  purpose,  and  weary  of  their 
fruitless  attempts  to  contend  against  heavy 
odds,  it  was  natural  that  inferior  keepers 
should  take  their  places.  In  a  few  years  a 
low  class  of  men  had  control  of  the  prison, 
and  the  convicts  were  corrupted  not  only  by 
each  other's  society,  but  by  the  example  of 
their  officers,  who  are  said  to  have  been  pro- 


prisons  ant)  punisbments 


fane  and  drunken  tyrants.  Laziness  ruled 
everywhere.  The  men  were  again  herded 
together,  and  children  thrust  in  with  them, 
because  it  was  easier  to  care  for  a  crowded 
room,  than  for  individual  cells.  Many  prison- 
ers are  known  to  have  falsely  confessed  them- 
selves guilty  of  special  misdemeanors,  that 
they  might  be  confined  in  the  less  offensive, 
solitary  cells.  Books  were  withheld  on  the 
pretext  that  the  prisoners  destroyed  them. 
Inhuman  whippings  were  administered  by  the 
keepers  for  real  or  fancied  personal  insults  ; 
and  the  bodies  of  dead  convicts  were  either 
buried  without  ceremony  in  the  Potter's  Field, 
or  disposed  of  to  the  dissectors.66 

The  hospital,  consisting  of  four  rooms  with 
a  straw  bed  in  each,  was  in  the  north  wing. 
The  resident  physician  was  frequently  a  youth 
easily  imposed  on  by  the  convicts,  who  were 
skilled  in  counterfeiting  illness  and  were  gen- 
erally glad  of  a  few  days'  rest  from  the  work- 
shop. The  most  serious  of  the  real  diseases 
treated  in  the  hospital  were  those  unavoidably 
attendant  on  the  close  confinement  of  the 
prisoners."  Deaths  were  numerous,  being  as 
one  in  two  hundred  and  fifty  each  month. 

Very  few  troubles  seem  to  have  come  from 

the  undoubtedly  coarse,  but  abundant  food  ; 

and  no  complaints  are  made  of  uncleanliness. 

.  Indeed  to  such  an  extent  were  these  humane 

and  saving  points  insisted  upon  by  the  prison 


•Cbc 
Dospital 


<§>U>  prisons  ant>  ffwnisbments 


Dcstrucs 
tton  of 

Greenwich 
prison 


authorities,  that  many  citizens  regarded  the 
good  treatment  as  equivalent  to  laxity  in  dis- 
cipline !  Less  easily  refuted  are  the  com- 
plaints that  the  system  of  solitary  confinement 
was  never  thoroughly  tried.  The  inspectors 
pointed  out  that  one  Smith  had  been  placed 
in  a  solitary  cell  for  six  months,  and  had 
emerged  "a  revengeful  desperado";  while 
the  complainants  maintained  that,  as  he  had 
been  allowed  daily  converse  with  his  keeper, 
extra  diet,  and  reading  matter,  the  experiment 
had  not  been  a  fair  one. 

In  spite  of  all  that  was  said  against  the  dis- 
cipline and  plan  of  the  Greenwich  prison,  it 
marks  the  beginning  of  at  least  an  attempt  at 
a  system  aiming  at  reform.  For  the  first  time 
punishments  were  regulated  by  their  duration 
as  well  as  by  mere  severity;  and  the  good 
effects  of  prison  labor  were  proved,  while  its 
weak  points  began  to  be  understood,  and 
could  be  guarded  against. 

It  was  in  1829,  that  the  prison  was  sold  and 
destroyed.  A  small  part  of  its  old  wall  is 
still  in  existence,  having  been  built  into  the 
brewery  on  the  same  site.  The  prisoners 
were  gradually  transferred,  in  1828,  and  1829, 
to  the  enormous  new  pile  at  Sing  Sing. 

In  1826,  the  penitentiary  on  Blackwell's  Is- 
land had  been  opened  ; '°  and  with  the  closing 
of  the  careers  of  Greenwich,  the  Debtors' 
Prison,  and  the  Bridewell,  and  the  substitu- 


prisons  ant)  jpunisbments  115 


tion  of  Sing  Sing,  Blackwell's,  and  the  Tombs, 
the  old  city  prisons  and  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century  came  to  an  end  together. 


n6 


prisons  anfc  fiMinisbments 


References  REFERENCES. 

1.  General  J.  G.  WILSON,  {Memorial  History  of  the  City 

of  New  York,  ii.,  p.  188. 

2.  BROADHEAD'S  History  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
MARTHA  LAMB'S  History  of  the  City  of  New  York,  p. 

118. 

3.  J.  F.  WATSON,  Historic  Tales  of  Olden  Time. 

4.  Laws  and  Ordinances  of  New  Netherlands,  1643  and 

1645. 

5.  WATSON,  p.  127. 

6.  Stadt  Huys  of  this  series. 

7.  Century  Magazine,  iv.,  p.  847.    RICHARD  GRANT  WHITE. 

8.  Ordinance,  August  20,  1664. 

9.  Acts  of  Assembly  Passed  in  the  Province  of  New  York 

from    1691   to   1725.     Printed  by  Wm.    Bradford, 
1726.     Acts  of  1692. 

10.  Ordinances,  1642,  1647. 

1 1 .  Grolier  Club  :    Exhibition  of  Drawings  of  Old  New 

York. 

12.  The  Charter  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  the  Act  of 

the  General  Assembly  Confirming  the  Same.    Printed 
by  Zenger,  1735. 

13.  Acts  of  Assembly,  1693. 

14.  Ibid.,  1694. 

15.  Dutch  Records,  1652,  1663,  Letter  V. 

1 6.  VALENTINE'S  Corporation  Manuals,  1861,  p.  533. 

17.  LAMB,  p.  443. 

1 8.  WILSON,  ii.,  p.  222. 

19.  SMITH'S  History  of  the  "Province  of  New    York,  to 

which  is  annexed    ...    the  Constitution  of  the 
Courts  of  Justice  in  that  Colony.     London,  1757. 

20.  DUNLAP'S  History  of  the  New  Netherlands,  i.,  pp. 

297,  302. 

2 1 .  Governor's  Island  of  this  series,  p.  1 59. 

22.  Slavery  in  New  York  of  this  series,  p.  16. 


©ID  prisons  an&  puntsbments 


117 


23.  WILSON,  ii.,  p.  165. 

24.  HASWELL'S  Recollections  of  an  Octogenarian. 

25.  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  McMAS- 

TER,  i.,  p.  98. 

26.  Gazette  and  {Mercury,  July  27,  1772. 

27.  DAWSON'S  History  of  the  Tark. 

28.  LEAKE'S  Life  of  General  Lamb. 

29.  New  York  Journal,  February  17,  1770. 

30.  WILSON,  ii.,  p.  477. 

31.  ONDERDONK'S  Incidents  of  the  British  Prisons  and 

British  Ships  at  New  York. 

32.  The  Old  Jersey  Captive  ;  a  narrative  of  the  captivity 

of  Thomas  Andros,  1781. 

33.  LOSSING'S  Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the  Devolution, 

Supplement,  iv.,  pp.  658,  660. 

34.  WILSON,  ii.,  p.  540. 

35.  BANCROFT. 

36.  DUNLAP,  ii. 

37.  S.  B.  WEBB'S  Reminiscences,  ii.,  pp.  37,  41,  54,  121, 

192. 

38.  Hour-Glass  Series  :   A  Historic  Landmark,  by  J.  F. 

McL.,  pp.  210,  211. 

39.  John  Pintard's  Account  of  the  Time  after  the  Battle 

of  Brooklyn. 

40.  New  York  and  its  Institutions,  by  Rev.  J.  F.  RICH- 

MOND, 1872,  pp.  74,  514. 

41.  Journal  of  Oliver  Woodruff. 

42.  DAVIS'S  Essay  on  the  Old  Bridewell.     Manuals,  1855, 

pp.  486  et  seq. 

43.  In  Old  New  York,  THOMAS  JANVIER,  p.  243.     Petition 

to  the  General  Assembly  by  the  Association  for  the 
Relief  of  Distressed  Debtors,  1 788. 

44.  The  Laws  of  New  York.     The  Town  Records. 

45.  WATSON,  p.  175. 

46.  WILSON,  iii.,  p.  342. 

47.  Century  Magazine,  v.,  p.  865  ;    The  New  City  Hall, 

by  E.  S.  WILDE. 


Inferences 


u8 


prisons  anfc  punisbments 


References      48.    New  York  as  it  was  during  the  Latter  Part  of  the 
Last  Century,  by  DUER. 

49.  Inside  Out ;  or,  An  Interior  View  of  the  New  York 

State's  Prison.    By  One  Who  Knows,  1823.   (Proba- 
bly by  JAMES  STEWART  or  W.  A.  COFFEY),  pp.  13,  15. 

50.  Harper's  Monthly,  87,  p.  339 ;  Greenwich  Village, 

by  T.  JANVIER. 

51.  Old  Greenwich  of  this  series,  p.  292. 

52.  Defence  of  the  System  of  Solitary  Confinement,  by 

G.  W.  SMITH. 

53.  Journal  of  Prison  Discipline,  i.,  p.  4  ;  Inside  Out, 

Introduction,  p.  8. 

54.  An  Account  of  the  New  York  State  Trison,  by  One 

of  the  Inspectors,  1801.     Pamphlet  of  the  New  York 
Hist.  Soc.,  No.  64. 

55.  Old  Greenwich  of  this  series,  p.  290. 

56.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  State  Prison, 

1 823  et  seq. 

57.  Old  Greenwich  of  this  series,  p.  291  ;  Inside  Out,  p. 

24. 

58.  Inside  Out,  p.  10  ;  Introduction,  pp.  29,  54. 

59.  Ibid.,  p.  165  et  seq. 

60.  Grand  Jury  Imports,  1849. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PRESS  AND  ITS  MAKERS 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History  Club. 


VOLUME  II.    NUMBER  IV. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PRESS  AND  ITS 
MAKERS 

IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 

BY 

CHARLOTTE  M.  MARTIN 

AND 

BENJAMIN  ELLIS  MARTIN. 

The  native  Indians  of  the  New  Netherland, 
like  the  other  red  men  of  North  America, 
sometimes  sent  their  news  to  a  distance, 
scratched  on  the  smooth  surface  of  birch 
bark:  such  were  the  only  news-letters  that 
circulated  in  the  colonies  in  those  early  days. 

As  to  New  Amsterdam,  if  the  records  did 
not  tell  us  that  no  newspapers  existed  there, 
we  should  know  it  beyond  doubt  by  the 
words  of  Diedrich  Knickerbocker,  when  in 
one  of  the  serious  passages  of  his  brilliant 
burlesque,  he  describes  the  profound  repose 
and  tranquility  that  dwelt  in  the  embryo  city : 
"The  very  words  of  learning,  education,  taste, 
and  talents  were  unheard  of ;  a  bright  genius 


121 


InMan 
•Hews. 
letter* 


129 


ZTbe  Hew  12orft  press  an&  Its  flDafeers 


Strict 
SurtctU 
lance  over 
tbe  Drees 


was  an  animal  unknown.  No  man,  in  fact, 
seemed  to  know  more  than  his  neighbor,  nor 
any  man  to  know  more  than  an  honest  man 
ought  to  know,  who  has  nobody's  business 
to  mind  but  his  own;  the  parson  and  the 
council  clerk  were  the  only  men  who  could 
read  in  the  community,  and  the  sage  Van 
Twiller  always  signed  his  name  with  a  cross." 
These  words  prove,  by  implication,  and  be- 
yond possible  doubt,  that  no  newspaper,  such 
as  is  known  to  us  misguided  moderns,  ex- 
isted in  the  quiet  town. 

When  New  Amsterdam  became  New  York, 
the  day  of  the  newspaper  was  put  off  longer 
than  in  the  other  provinces;  for  that  broad 
and  enlightened  Stuart,  James  II.,  sent  to  his 
Governor,  Dongan,  in  1686,  the  following  or- 
der: "  Forasmuch  as  great  inconvenience  may 
arise  by  the  liberty  of  printing,  within  our 
province  of  New  York,  you  are  to  provide, 
by  all  necessary  orders,  that  no  person  keep 
any  press  for  printing;  nor  that  any  book, 
pamphlet,  or  other  matters,  whatsoever,  be 
printed,  without  your  especial  leave  and  licence 
be  first  obtained."  Even  when  the  press  was 
allowed  to  be  set  up  in  the  province,  it  was 
kept  under  strict  surveillance  and  subject  to 
stringent  restrictions ;  the  authorities,  in  the 
words  of  Isaiah  Thomas,  "by  keeping  the 
people  in  ignorance,  thought  to  render  them 
more  obedient  to  the  laws,  prevent  them  from 


Ube  flew  UJorfe  press  anD  Its  flDafcers 


123 


libelling  the  government,  and  impede  the 
growth  of  heresy."  Not  until  about  1755  did 
our  press  feel  any  touch  of  freedom,  and  gain 
any  small  measure  of  liberty  of  speech. 

It  was  in  January,  16^9,  that  "  printing  was 
first  performed  in  that  part  of  North  America 
which  extends  from  the  Gulph  of  Mexico  to 
the  frozen  ocean";  and  it  was  not  till  1690, 
that  a  newspaper  was  issued  on  this  conti- 
nent. This  was  a  small  quarto  of  short  and 
irregular  life,  which  appeared  in  Boston.  In 
April,  1 704,  there  came  to  stay,  in  that  town, 
the  first  real  newspaper  in  any  of  the  colo- 
nies—  The  Boston  News-Letter.  Philadelphia 
came  next  in  1719,  with  its  American  Weekly 
Mercury,  and  so  in  succession  the  other  prov- 
inces, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  and  South 
Carolina,  came  out  with  their  papers. 

New  York  saw  its  first  paper  on  the  six- 
teenth of  October,  1725.  The  New -York 
Gazette,  printed  and  put  forth  by  William 
Bradford.  This  worthy  man  had  come  to 
Philadelphia  from  London  by  the  advice  of 
William  Penn,  Chief  of  the  State,  and  armed 
with  a  letter  from  George  Fox  dated  "  Lon- 
don, 6th  month,  1685,"  to  the  Quakers  of 
the  colonies,  announcing  to  them  that  "a  so- 
ber young  man,  whose  name  is  William  Brad- 
ford, is  coming  to  set  up  the  trade  of  printing 
Friends'  books."  So  he  started  his  press  in 
Philadelphia,  but  soon  he  and  his  fellow  non- 


Cbe  first 
Colonial 

•»cws= 
papers 


124 


Ube  Hew 


press  anfc  Its  flDafeers 


UnUIiam 
JBrafcforfc 


combatants  fell  to  fighting  over  the  liberty  of 
that  same  press,  as  to  which  they  had  oppos- 
ing views.  The  weaker  one  went  to  prison 
for  a  while,  then  gave  up  Quakering,  and 
came  to  New  York.  It  was  in  1693,  that  he 
set  up  his  press  in  this  little  town  of  four 
thousand  inhabitants,  "At  the  Sign  of  the 
Bible,"  in  that  wide  gate-way  between  King 
Street  and  Old  Slip  and  the  river,  which  has 
been  called  Hanover  Square  since  the  acces- 
sion of  George  I.,  while  King  Street  has  be- 
come our  present  William  Street. 

To  Bradford  belongs  the  glory  of  introduc- 
ing the  art  of  printing  to  this  town  and  this 
province.  In  April,  1693,  he  was  appointed 
by  the  Council,  Printer  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Assembly  and  Public  Papers,  with  a  salary  of 
^40  a  year,  and  the  privilege  and  the  profit  of 
his  own  private  printing.  In  1694,  appeared 
the  Laws  and  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly 
"at  New  York,  printed  and  sold  by  William 
Bradford,  Printer  to  their  Majesties,  King 
William  and  Queen  Mary."  In  1710 — his 
appointment  having  been  renewed  in  1709 — 
appeared  a  later  edition,  "Printed  by  William 
Bradford,  Printer  of  the  Queen's  most  excel- 
lent Majesty  for  the  Colony  of  New  York." 
He  put  forth,  during  these  years,  and  for 
many  after  years,  almanacs,  controversial 
pamphlets,  and  public  documents;  while,  as  a 
publisher,  he  adventured  many  books  now 


Ube  flew  l^orl?  press  an&  f  ts  flDafcers 


eagerly  sought  for  by  collectors  and  amateurs. 
In  1723,  Benjamin  Franklin,  coming  from  Bos-  <*««"« 
ton  to  New  York  in  search  of  work,  found 
Bradford  still  the  only  printer  here,  but  with 
no  work  for  him.  The  young  stranger,  and 
future  rival,  found  kindly  entertainment,  and 
was  sent  on  to  the  younger  Bradford — the 
son — in  Philadelphia.  Why  Franklin  called 
William  Bradford  "the  cunning  old  fox"  in 
later  years,  is  not  apparent. 

Bradford  was  sixty-one  years  old  when  the 
first  copy  of  The  New- York  Gazette  was 
issued  from  his  press  in  1725.  This  weekly, 
which  came  out  on  each  Monday,  was,  until 
1733,  the  only  newspaper  in  the  town.  At 
first  a  single  leaf,  it  was  increased  to  two, 
three,  four,  and  six  pages  as  its  contents 
warranted.  These  contents  were  made  up  of 
small  doings  at  home  and  abroad,  in  small 
paragraphs,  selections  of  stale  literature,  poor 
poetry,  no  news  of  moment,  and  scanty  ad- 
vertisements. It  was  a  dwarf  folio,  poorly 
printed  on  dirty,  grayish  paper ;  on  the  left  of 
the  title,  in  large  Roman  type,  were  the 
arms  of  the  city — barrels  and  beavers,  and  the 
wings  of  a  wind-mill,  supported  by  an  Indian 
and  a  soldier — the  royal  crown  over  all.  On 
the  right  of  the  title  was  a  pine  tree,  and  a 
post  rider  on  an  animal  meant  for  a  horse. 
The  foreign  news  was  of  such  weighty  mat- 
ters as  the  exploits  of  an  English  highwayman 


126 


"Hew  H?orfe  press  an&  Its  flDafcers 


foreign 
Hews 


at  Bath,  or  the  young  French  king's  indispo- 
sition, which  forced  him  to  put  off  the  cer- 
emony of  "touching  the  diseased,"  promised 
for  November  23,  1726,  until  the  following 
day,  the  twenty-fourth.  Of  greater  import 
was  this  from  London,  March  18,  1727: 
"Yesterday  morning  died,  aged  eighty-five, 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Master  of  His  Majesty's 
Mint  at  the  Tower,  to  which  place  is  annexed 
a  salary  of  ^500  per  annum,  and  President  of 
the  Royal  Society."  It  is  curious,  and  charac- 
teristic, this  giving  foremost  place  to  the  petty 
office  and  its  salary,  his  great  office  being  men- 
tioned, quite  casually,  at  the  last! 

The  issue  of  June  15,  1730,  contains  matters 
of  more  international  interest,  for  it  is  full  of 
excitement  over  the  election  of  the  Pope,  and 
the  probable  effect  upon  European  politics; 
while  a  later  copy  gives  a  detailed  account  of 
the  coronation  of  the  successful  Orsini  as  Cle- 
ment XII. 

William  Bradford  was  greater  as  a  man  than 
as  an  editor — a  rare,  and  a  strong  character, 
marked  by  ability,  industry,  and  probity;  de- 
cent in  his  own  life,  kindly  to  his  fellow-men. 
"No  man  is  born  unto  himself  alone  "  seems 
to  have  been  his  essential  rule  of  conduct. 
"  So  that  herein  I  may  but  be  serviceable  to 
the  Truth  and  to  the  Friends  thereof,"  he 
wrote  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  month  of 
1687-8.  The  "old  fox"  was  good  to  his 


ZCbe  Hew  J^orfe  press  an&  Uts  flDafcers 


127 


needy,  deserving  fellow-creatures,  and  his 
quiet  influence  was  felt  both  in  the  church 
and  in  the  little  printing  world  of  his  day. 
With  few  exceptions,  the  then  rising  genera- 
tion of  printers  was  trained  under  his  watch- 
ful eye. 

He  ended  his  life  of  uneventful  usefulness  in 
1752 :  his  age  being  given  by  differing  authori- 
ties as  ninety  and  ninety-four.  His  chipped 
and  stained  tombstone,  now  carefully  pre- 
served in  the  entrance  hall  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  New  York,  gives  it  as  ninety-two, 
and  the  date  of  his  birth  as  1660 — an  error  of 
the  mason,  doubtless.  This  stone  was  re- 
placed by  a  new  one  on  the  occasion  of  the 
memorial  service  in  Trinity  Church — of  which 
Bradford  was  a  vestryman  —  on  May  20, 
1863,  when  the  Historical  Society  celebrated 
the  two-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  printer's 
birth.  The  new  stone,  standing  above  his 
grave  in  Trinity  burial  ground,  is  an  exact 
copy  of  the  original  stone,  save  that  it  is  a  trifle 
larger.  The  Historical  Society  has  also  placed 
a  tablet  in  the  wall  of  the  Cotton  Exchange, 
on  the  corner  of  Hanover  Square  and  William 
Street,  marking  the  site  of  the  building  from 
which  Bradford  issued  his  New-York  Gazette, 
and  commemorating  the  two-hur.dredth  anni- 
versary of  the  introduction  of  printing  into 
New  York,  on  April  10,  1693. 

When   Bradford   retired  from   bus 'ness  in 


Beatb  of 

tUilliam 
JSraJfort 


128 


TTbe  1Rew  UJorfe  press  anfc  Its  Rafters 


firtntng 
port 


1742,  his  newspaper  was  taken  in  charge  by 
Henry  De  Foreest,  an  apprentice  of  Bradford 
and  the  first  New  York  printer  known  to  have 
been  born  in  the  town.  He  had  been  a  part- 
ner of  Bradford  during  the  last  years  of  the 
Gazette,  and  it  bore  the  joint  imprint  of  their 
names.  De  Foreest  succeeded  to  the  entire 
control  of  the  paper  in  1744,  and  in  November 
of  the  same  year  he  published  it  in  the  after- 
noon instead  of  the  morning,  calling  it  the  New- 
York  Evening  Post,  the  first  evening  issue  in 
the  town.  It  was  a  weekly  like  the  Gazette, 
but  was  a  great  improvement  on  its  predeces- 
sor, being  well  printed,  with  clean  type,  not 
too  large  for  its  page,  the  type  page  being 
about  five  and  a  half  by  nine  and  three  quar- 
ters inches.  It  gave  special  prominence  to 
shipping  and  foreign  news,  and  there  was  the 
customary  dose  of  flimsy  literature  and  feeble 
verse.  Advertisements  were  still  few  in  num- 
ber, and  their  old-time  queerness  makes  some 
of  them  worthy  of  reproduction  here.  .  .  . 
A  bookseller  publishes  A  Short  and  Easie 
Method  with  the  Deists.  ...  "  To  be  sold, 
a  Negro  Wench,  that  can  do  all  manner  of 
House  Work,  fit  for  Town  or  Country.  She 
has  had  the  smallpox."  "John  George  Cook, 
Stocking  Weaver,  can  supply  all  sorts  of  stock- 
ings." .  .  "  Very  good  Pot-ash  made 
and  sold  by  Cornelius  Brower,  living  next 
door  to  the  Widow  Killmaster's,  near  Gold- 


flew  IJJorfc  press  anfc  Hts  flDafeers 


129 


ing  Hill."  .  .  .  "  This  is  to  give  notice  that 
all  persons  who  are  indebted  to  Rebecca  Sip- 
kins  are  desired  to  come  and  pay  the  same  to 
prevent  further  trouble,  and  all  who  have  de- 
mands on  her  to  come  and  receive  satisfac- 
tion." .  .  .  This  Evening  Post  went  out 
of  existence  in  1752,  the  causes  that  brought 
about  its  end  being  unknown. 

Among  the  seven  thousand  Germans  who 
found  their  way,  from  their  devastated  Pala- 
tinate, and  from  the  cruelties  of  Louis  XIV., 
to  England — and  there  camped  out  at  Black- 
heath  and  Camberwell — was  a  woman  named 
Zenger,  with  her  three  children.  When  Queen 
Anne's  shrewd  bounty  sent  some  three  thou- 
sand of  these  exiles  to  help  colonize  this  coun- 
try in  1708,  this  family  came  to  New  York, 
and  the  eldest  child,  aged  thirteen — John  Peter 
— was  apprenticed  to  William  Bradford.  These 
indentures  are  now  in  the  office  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  at  Albany.  Under  his  mas- 
ter's good  guidance  the  boy's  character  was 
formed,  and  he  learned  his  trade  well  enough 
to  set  up  his  own  printing-press — the  second 
in  the  town — about  1726.  On  November  5, 
1733,  he  brought  out  the  first  number  of  his 
New-  York  Weekly  Journal,  the  second  paper 
in  New  York,  and  so  the  first  rival  to  Brad- 
ford's Gazette,  then  over  eight  years  old. 
However  excellent  Zenger's  training  may  have 
been,  a  proper  respect  for  age  and  authority 


peter 

Zengtr 


130 


Ube  *Rew  llJorfc  press  anfc  Its  flDafeers 


journal 


seems  not  to  have  taken  root  in  him,  for  when 
Bradford — who  was  naturally,  by  virtue  of  his 
official  position,  and  by  reason  of  his  social 
standing  in  the  commonalty,  on  the  side  of  the 
"  powers  that  be  " — accused  him  in  print  of 
"  publishing  pieces  tending  to  set  the  province 
in  a  flame,  and  to  raise  sedition  and  tumults," 
Zenger  referred  to  his  former  master  as  "  this 
Scribbler,"  and  ''that  groaping  Fumbler,"  and 
continued  to  publish  lampoons  against  the 
authorities,  and  especially  against  the  im- 
potent Governor  himself. 

The  State  officials  were  of  the  same  mind 
as  Bradford  in  this  matter,  and  in  November, 
1734,  Governor  Cosby  and  the  council  arrested 
Zenger  for  "  printing  and  publishing  several 
seditious  libels,"  and  had  copies  of  the  offend- 
ing papers  burned.  Zenger  spoke  for  the 
popular  party  in  the  politics  of  the  province, 
and  the  people  were  with  him,  the  Crown 
officials  and  the  conservative  classes  of  the 
town  ranged  against  him.  The  Grand  Jury 
would  find  no  true  bill  against  the  printer,  and 
the  trial  was  conducted  by  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral, and  before  biassed  judges,  carefully  se- 
lected. Zenger's  counsel  was  the  then  head 
of  the  Philadelphia  bar,  Andrew  Hamilton, 
whose  plea  for  Zenger  and  the  liberty  of  the 
American  Press  won  a  verdict  of"  not  guilty" 
from  the  sympathetic  jury,  in  defiance  of  the 
instruction  of  the  judges.  The  verdict  was 


ZTbe  Hew  H?orfc  press  anfc  flts  flDafeers        131 

hailed  with  shouts  by  the  great  crowd  within 
and  without  the  court ;  to  Andrew  Hamilton 
was  given  the  freedom  of  the  city  in  a  gold  box, 
and  Zenger  was  made  a  popular  hero.  Either 
he  or  his  verdict — it  is  difficult  to  determine 
which  is  meant  by  the  mixed  metaphor — has 
been  acclaimed  as  "the  morning  star  of  that 
liberty  which  subsequently  revolutionized 
America."  It  is  queer  and  pitiful,  too,  that 
Bradford,  who  in  his  youth  suffered  imprison- 
ment for  the  cause  of  liberty  of  the  press, 
should,  in  his  old  age,  have  been  on  the  side 
of  the  prosecutors  in  this  most  momentous 
trial;  and  that  the  victim  of  this  arbitrary  per- 
secution should  be  an  apprentice  of  his  own, 
the  outgrowth  of  his  training  in  all  things, 
and  doubtless  in  free  speech. 

Zenger  went  back  from  his  prison,  after  long 
months  of  idleness  and  growing  debts,  to  his 
shop  in  "  Broad  Street,  near  the  upper  end  of 
Long  Brij.,"  where  he  had  established  himself 
and  his  journal  in  1733,  and  at  once  issued  in 
pamphlet  form  A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Case 
and  Tryal  of  John  Peter  Zenger,  printer  of  the 
New-York  "Weekly  Journal;"  a  pamphlet  that 
had  an  immense  sale  at  the  time  and  is  still 
famed.  He  had  published  many  pamphlets, 
almanacs,  and  sermons  in  his  day,  and  in  1735 
he  issued,  in  a  small  folio,  The  Charter  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  "printed  by  order  of  the 
Mayor,  Recorder,  and  Commonalty  of  the  City 


132 


ftbe  flew  UJorft  press  an&  Its  /IDafeers 


aforesaid."  Any  one  who  wishes  to  be  per- 
sonally  acquainted  with  Zenger's  work  as  a 
publisher  and  maker  of  books  may  consult,  in 
the  Lenox  Library,  The  Adorable  Ways  of 
God — three  sermons  printed  in  1726.  It  is 
a  square  old  volume,  roughly  bound,  with  un- 
even edges.  The  paper  is  pale  brown,  and 
has  that  peculiar  brittle  quality  dear  to  the 
lovers  of  old  books.  The  type  is  clear,  but 
the  imprint  of  each  page  is  slightly  confused 
by  the  impressions  from  its  other  side.  The 
wide  margins  and  curious,  decorated  initial 
letters  add  to  the  beauty  of  this  valuable 
specimen  of  old-time  printing. 

These  books  and  pamphlets  did  not  inter- 
fere with  the  regular  publication  of  the  Weekly 
Journal,  which  Zenger  resumed  after  his  trial. 
It  was  a  small  sheet,  with  a  type  page  meas- 
uring a  little  over  five  inches  by  nine  inches 
and  a  half,  with  uncomfortably  narrow  mar- 
gins, and  not  laudable  in  its  printing,  its  make- 
up, or  its  editing.  Indeed,  its  editor  was  no 
scholar,  and  his  German  boyhood  had  left  him 
without  an  exact  command  of  English.  But 
his  paper  was  entirely  alive,  and  his  lampoons 
on  the  government  were  novel  in  their  auda- 
city and  startling  in  their  strength. 

The  Journal  sold  at  three  shillings  each 
quarter,  its  advertisements  paying  three  shil- 
lings a  week  for  the  first  week,  and  a  shilling 
each  for  every  succeeding  week.  It  was  ad- 


TTbe  "Hew  l^orfe  [press  anfc  Its 


133 


vertised  as  "  Containing  the  Freshest  Advices, 
Foreign  and  Domestick,"  and  although  the 
freshness  seems  stale  indeed  in  the  light  of 
modern  enterprise,  the  news  "both  foreign 
and  domestick "  covered  an  astonishing 
amount  of  ground.  Letters  from  abroad  show 
the  constancy  with  which  the  people  of  New 
York  clung  to  their  mother  country  and  her 
interests.  First  place  was  almost  always 
given  to  these  foreign  despatches,  inter-colo- 
nial news  being  considered  of  much  less  im- 
portance. Sometimes  contributed  letters, 
such  as  those  on  "  The  Liberty  of  The  Press," 
signed  by  "  Cato,"  usurped  the  first  page  of 
two  or  three  numbers  in  succession.  On 
December  24,  1733,  one  John  Gardner,  a 
mariner  of  Boston,  swears  to  the  authenticity 
of  his  map  of  the  fortifications  of  Louisburg, 
which  is  published  in  that  issue,  and  tells  the 
exciting  story  of  his  acquaintance  with  the 
town,  judging  that  it  may  be  of  use  to  his 
countrymen  in  case  of  a  war  with  France. 

When  Zenger  died,  in  1746,  the  paper  was 
carried  on  by  his  widow  and  his  eldest  son, 
in  "Stone  Street,  near  Fort  George":  carried 
on  with  great  improvement  in  printing  and 
contents,  until  1751,  when  Mrs.  Zenger's 
death  seems  to  have  taken  away  its  controlling 
force,  and  it  came  to  an  end. 

Another  apprentice  of  William  Bradford 
was  James  Parker,  a  New  Jersey  boy,  who, 


Htcms  of 
•Hews  in 
tbc  Hews 
Both 
tUcefclv 
Journal 


134 


Hew  HJorfe  press  anfc  Its  flDafeers 


3amcs 
packer 


tired  of  work  and  confinement,  tried  for  his 
independence  by  running  away  from  his  mas- 
ter. Bradford  advertised  a  small  reward  for 
his  return  ;  the  boy  found  his  way  back,  and 
served  out  his  term  faithfully,  learning  his 
trade  so  well  that  he  succeeded  to  his  master's 
post  as  Printer  of  the  Province  when  that 
good  man  retired.  In  that  same  year,  1742-3, 
Parker  began  the  issue  of  the  third  newspaper 
in  the  province — The  New-York  Weekly  Post- 
Boy.  In  1746,  after  Bradford's  original  Gazette 
had  been  merged  in  The  New-York  Evening 
Post,  under  De  Foreest's  management,  Parker 
enlarged  his  paper,  calling  it  The  New-York 
Gazette  Revived  in  The  Weekly  Post-Boy.  At 
this  time,  also,  he  succeeded  to  a  goodly  share 
of  William  Bradford's  subscription  list.  The 
paper,  in  its  new  shape,  a  small  folio,  with  a 
type-page  measuring  six  and  a  half  by  ten 
and  a  half  inches,  was  pleasant  to  the  eye, 
well  printed  and  well  edited.  For  these  rea- 
sons it  deserved  the  good  repute  and  good 
sales  which  were  its  portion,  and  for  more, 
because  it  contained  real  news,  having  items 
from  St.  Petersburg,  Vienna,  Berlin,  Stock- 
holm, Paris,  and  London  ;  this  newest  news 
being  not  over  two  months  old  !  The  inter- 
est in  the  details  of  foreign  affairs  remains 
undiminished,  and  these  details  are  somewhat 
better  arranged  and  edited  than  in  Zenger's 
Journal. 


Ube  "Hew  H?orfc  press  ant>  flts  flDafcers        135 

The  Post-Boy  of  June  10,  1745,  contains  a  Ube 
careful  map  and  plan  of  the  siege  of  Louis- 
burg,  published  in  the  hope  that  it  will  be  of 
value  to  the  subscribers,  inasmuch  as  many 
of  the  besieging  force  had  friends  and  rela- 
tions in  the  province.  The  issue  of  February 
26,  1750,  gives  notice  of  the  coming  of  a  com- 
pany of  comedians  from  Philadelphia,  who 
"will  give  performances  in  a  room  of  the 
building  belonging  to  the  estate  of  Rip  Van 
Dam,  Esquire,  deceased."  This  building,  the 
first  theatre  in  the  town,  stood  on  the  site  of 
the  present  numbers  64  and  66,  Nassau  Street, 
that  plot  of  land  remaining  whole  and  uncut. 
This  more  recent  structure,  covering  its  entire 
site,  has  yet  an  air  of  sedate  antiquity  to 
modern  eyes,  and  something  in  its  square 
stolidity  still  suggests  the  "  Estate  of  Rip  Van 
Dam,  Esquire."  As  far  as  is  known,  this  is 
the  first  notice  of  the  first  play-acting  in  the 
town.  The  advertisement  runs  as  follows  : 

"  By  his  Excellency's  Permission,  At  the 
Theatre  in  Nassau  Street,  On  Monday  the  5th 
of  March,  next,  Will  be  presented  the  Histori- 
cal Tragedy 

of 

King  Richard  3rd ! 

Wrote  originally  by  Shakespeare,  and  altered 
by  Colley  Gibber,  Esquire.  In  this  play  are 
contained  the  Death  of  King  Henry  6th ;  the 


136 


Ube  Hew  l^orfe  ipress  an&  Uts  flDafeers 


first 
Notice  of 

first 


acting 


artful  acquisition  of  the  crown  by  King  Rich- 
ard, the  murder  of  the  Princes  in  the  Tower; 
the  landing  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond,  and  the 
Battle  of  Bosworth  Field. 

"Tickets  will  be  ready  to  be  delivered  by 
Thursday  next,  and  to  be  had  of  the  printer 
hereof. 

"  Pitt,  five  shillings;  Gallery,  three  shillings. 
To  begin  precisely  at  half  an  hour  after  six 
o'clock,  and  no  person  to  be  admitted  behind 
the  scenes." 

The  Gazette  and  Post-Boy  of  September  24, 
1750,  prints  the  following: 

"On  Thursday  evening  the  tragedy  of 
'  Cato  '  was  played  at  the  theatre  in  this  city, 
before  a  very  numerous  audience,  the  greater 
part  of  whom  were  of  the  opinion  that  it 
was  pretty  well  performed.  As  it  was  the 
fullest  assembly  that  has  ever  appeared  in  that 
house,  it  may  serve  to  prove  that  the  taste  of 
this  place  is  not  so  much  vitiated  or  lost  to  a 
sense  of  liberty,  but  that  they  can  prefer  a 
representation  of  Virtue  to  one  of  loose  char- 
acter. '  The  Recruiting  Officer '  will  be  pre- 
sented this  evening." 

From  such  decorous  and  unboastful  begin- 
nings has  the  New  York  School  of  Dramatic 
Criticism  "grown  so  great."  The  item  con- 
tinues: "The  House  being  new  floored,  is 
made  warm  and  comfortable,  besides  which 


TTbe  "Hew  i?orfe  press  an&  Its  flDafeers 


137 


Gentlemen  and  Ladies  may  cause  their  stoves 
to  be  brought."  These  small  foot-stoves — 
iron  cages,  with  embers  in  the  pan — were  in 
every-day  use  at  this  time  ;  now  they  are 
gathered  into  collections  and  museums. 

In  1770,  James  Parker  "closed  all  his  earthly 
concerns,"  and  his  journal  quietly  expired 
three  years  later. 

William  Weyman,  another  apprentice  of 
Bradford,  acted  as  James  Parker's  assistant 
for  a  few  years,  and  then,  in  1759,  started  his 
own  New-York  Gazette.  This  was  a  poor 
affair,  having  no  vitality.  The  proof-reading 
was  so  wretched  that  its  owner  and  editor 
was  constantly  in  trouble;  being  haled  to  the 
bar  of  the  Assembly  of  New  York,  and  forced 
to  beg  for  mercy  for  some  of  his  errors,  which 
had  seemed  to  cast  a  slight  on  that  honorable 
body.  So  early  were  seen  symptoms  of 
sensitiveness  on  the  part  of  the  provincial 
authorities,  signs  of  the  strain  that  was  begin- 
ning to  be  felt.  Although  poor  enough  as  a 
newspaper,  Weyman's  Gazette  is  absorbing 
reading  to  the  lover  of  history,  for  it  is  full  of 
reports — or  rather  rumors — from  the  front,  of 
the  way  the  "  French  and  Indian "  War 
was  going.  It  prints  a  manifesto  from  General 
Wolfe  in  full,  and  on  August  6,  1759,  it  joy- 
fully records  the  taking  of  Ticonderoga  by 
Amherst,  ten  days  after  that  almost  bloodless 
victory,  which  helped  to  wipe  out  the  cruel 


lUtHtani 
TOksman 


138 


TIbe  flew  l!?orfe  press  anfc  Its  flDafeers 


Oajcttc 


repulse  of  the  preceding  year.  This  feeble 
journal  languished  until  1767,  and  then  expired 
of  inanition. 

A  more  vigorous  personality  than  Weyman's 
is  that  of  John  Holt,  a  Virginian,  who  came  to 
New  York  in  1759,  and  soon  appears  as  a 
partner  of  James  Parker.  He  was  assistant 
editor  of  The  New-York  Gazette  and  Weekly 
Post-Bqy,  for  a  year  or  two,  and  had  entire 
control  of  the  paper  from  1762  to  1766.  Then 
he  quarrelled  with  Parker,  and  set  up  his  own 
paper, — The  New-York  Journal, — "Contain- 
ing the  freshest  advices,  Foreign  and 
Domestick."  It  contained,  too,  the  freshest 
thoughts  and  deepest  convictions  of  this 
ardent  patriot  and  devoted  Whig,  as  well  as 
frequent  contributions  from  his  fellow-Whigs ; 
and  it  had  a  sudden  success,  and  large  sales. 
This  was  the  first  paper  to  be  wholly  and 
frankly  given  over  to  the  cause  of  the  patriots. 
On  June  23,  1774,  Holt  removed  the  royal  arms 
from  his  title,  and  substituted  Franklin's  de- 
vice, the  serpent  cut  in  pieces,  with  the 
warning  motto,  "  Unite  or  Die."  This  simple 
design  held  the  place  of  the  royal  arms  until 
December  15,  1774,  when  this  same  serpent 
appears,  united  and  coiled,  with  his  tail  in  his 
mouth,  making  a  double  ring,  enclosing  a 
pillar  crowned  by  a  liberty  cap,  and  held  up- 
right by  many  hands  on  the  firm  foundation 
of  "Magna  Charta."  The  following  inscrip- 


Bew  HJorfe  press  an&  Its  flDafeers 


tion,  printed  on  the  body  of  the  snake,  fol- 
lows its  double  coil. 

"  United  now,  alive  and  free,  firm  on  this  basis,  liberty  shall 

stand ; 

And  thus  supported,  ever  bless  our  land  ; 
Till  time  becomes  eternity." 

These  two  symbols,  both  strong  and  sug- 
gestive, caught  the  popular  eye,  and  this  ob- 
ject-lesson sank  into  the  popular  mind. 

In  1776,  his  fearlessly  expressed  principles 
forced  Holt  to  fly  from  New  York.  He  took 
with  him  only  his  press,  leaving  behind,  and 
losing,  all  else  he  possessed.  For  seven  years, 
he  and  his  press  wandered  from  one  town  to 
another  along  the  Hudson,  now  at  Fishkill, 
then  farther  north  at  Esopus,  now  farther  in- 
land, as  he  was  forced  by  the  advances  and 
retreats  of  the  British  lines  ;  sending  out  his 
militant  journal,  with  undaunted  courage  and 
admirable  regularity,  throughout  the  war. 
This  was  the  first  instance  of  a  printing  press 
being  set  up  outside  of  any  of  the  large  towns, 
and  it  was  not  a  financial  success,  so  that,  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  Holt  gladly  came  back 
to  New  York,  continuing  his  paper  under  the 
title  of  The  Independent  Gazette  or  the  New- 
York  Journal. 

At  his  death  in  the  year  following  the  peace, 
1784,  a  notable  figure,  and  a  genuine  force  was 
lost  to  the  American  Press.  He  was  an  able 


Cbe  "Hew* 
IJorh 

journal 


140 


Ubc  flew  l?orK  press  ant)  Its  flDafeers 


TTbe  fntt. 
pcntent 
Qajette 


editor  and  an  admirable  writer  as  well  as  a 
pugnacious  patriot.  He  was  a  good  church- 
man too,  and  his  slab,  in  the  burial  ground 
hard  by  the  southwest  corner  of  the  old  Tory 
chapel  of  St.  Paul's,  is  in  place  there,  willing  as 
he  was  to  worship  in  that  structure  whence 
every  royal  sign  and  symbol  had  been  torn  by 
a  revolutionary  mob,  leaving  only — not  notic- 
ing in  the  patriotic  burst  of  destruction — the 
three  feathers  of  Wales,  on  the  sounding  board 
above  the  pulpit.  This  princely  emblem  re- 
mains in  position  to  this  day,  while  the  words 
Whig  and  Tory  have  been  dropped  from  the 
vocabulary  of  American  politics. 

The  Independent  Gazette  remained  in  the 
Widow  Holt's  hands  until  1787,  when  it  was 
sold,  together  with  Holt's  printing-office,  to 
Thomas  Greenleaf,  who  changed  the  one  paper 
into  two,  renamed  them,  and  made  them  the 
earliest  Democratic  organs  in  the  country.  The 
later  life  of  these  papers  cannot  be  recorded 
here,  for  they  passed  into  other  hands,  and 
outlived  the  century. 

In  marked  contrast  with  Holt's  firm  character 
stands,  or  rather  wobbles,  the  Irishman,  Hugh 
Gaine.  His  political  creed,  "it  seems" — in 
the  words  of  a  competent  witness — "was  to 
join  the  strongest  party, "  Not  certain  whether 
Whig  or  Tory  were  to  prove  the  stronger,  he 
actually,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  remain  neutral, 
belonged  to  both  !  He  had  begun  his  New- 


Ube  Hew  H?orfe  press  anfc  flts 


141 


Mercury  in  1752,  and  had  enlarged  it,  in 
1770,  under  the  title,  also  enlarged,  of  The 
New-York  Gazette,  and  The  Weekly  Mercury." 
This  paper  he  had  kept  fairly  neutral,  when  the 
war  first  broke  out :  but  he  took  the  precau- 
tion to  set  up  another  paper  of  the  same  name 
in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  where  he  considered 
it  safe  and  politic  to  be  a  staunch  Whig  in  all 
his  utterances.  This  Newark  edition  was 
begun  on  September  21,  1776,  its  first  issue 
being  a  folio,  uniform,  so  far  as  externals  went, 
with  the  New  York  issue  of  September  ninth, 
which  was  its  immediate  predecessor.  The 
second  number  came  out  as  a  quarto,  why  no 
one  seems  to  have  taken  the  trouble  to  explain, 
and  in  this  shape  the  paper  was  continued 
until  November  second,  when  it  ceased  ab- 
ruptly, with  no  editorial  warning.  In  fact,  there 
is  nothing  to  show  that  this  Newark  paper 
was  a  new  or  separate  venture  in  any  way, 
the  impression,  which  was  carefully  conveyed 
to  the  subscriber,  being,  that  Mr.  Gaine,  like 
many  another  ardent  patriot,  had  been  forced 
to  seek  refuge  for  his  press  outside  New  York. 
His  transplanted  patriotism  grew  smaller  as 
the  British  successes  grew  greater.  In  his 
New  York  paper,  meanwhile,  he  published 
many  proclamations  of  Lord  Howe  and  his 
brother,  and  addresses  of  fulsome  loyalty 
from  the  citizens  who  had  chosen  to  stay  in 
the  town.  In  the  Newark  issue  of  November 


•fcugb 

Game 


142 


"Hew  Uorfe  {press  anfc  Hts  /IDafeers 


Oaine's 
3ournali0» 


ing 


second  he  printed  a  long  selection  from  the 
Connecticut  Gazette  with  this  explanatory  note : 
"The  following  articles  are  taken  from  the 
New-York  Mercury,  printed  in  New  York  at 
the  house  lately  kept  by  Mr.  Gaine — which  we 
received  via  Long  Island."  The  article  in 
question — a  detailed  account  of  the  various 
engagements  which  gave  the  British  posses- 
sion of  New  York,  spiced  with  mockery  and 
abuse  of  the  American  forces, — was  taken 
from  Gaine's  own  paper,  his  New  York  issue 
of  October  7,  1776  ;  while,  in  his  Newark 
paper  of  October  fifth,  there  is  an  anxious 
letter  from  a  large  investor  in  the  English 
funds,  who  is  so  sure  that  the  Americans  will 
win  within  a  few  months  that  he  bewails  the 
inevitable  fall  in  British  securities  and  his  own 
loss  of  income  ! 

Even  Hugh  Gaine  would  be  put  to  the  blush 
could  he  see  the  two  records  of  his  great  feat 
in  journalistic  hedging,  bound  in  one  volume 
as  they  now  are  at  the  Lenox  Library.  The 
Newark  Mercury  once  abandoned,  the  New 
York  paper  became  so  frankly  and  wholly 
loyal,  that  the  evacuation  of  the  city  left  Mr. 
Gaine  in  a  decidedly  difficult  position,  from 
which  he  could  extricate  himself  only  by 
petitioning  the  Assembly  to  allow  him  to  re- 
main in  the  city  and  to  continue  his  paper. 
The  petition  was  granted,  but  there  was  no 
room  for  Gaine's  peculiar  editorial  principles 


Ube  IRew  J^orF?  press  ant)  Uts  flDafeers 


143 


amid  a  people  so  much  in  earnest,  and  his 
paper  ceased  its  existence  in  November,  1783. 
Gaine  hung  out  his  sign  at  the  "  Bible  and 
Crown  "  in  Hanover  Square  for  full  forty  years, 
pouring  forth  from  his  press  a  ceaseless  stream 
of  pamphlets,  almanacs,  and  books: — among 
these  last,  the  first  American  edition  of  Robin- 
son Crusoe,  and  another  famous  volume  en- 
titled Military  Collections  and  Remarks,  by 
one  Major  Donkin,  published  in  1777.  It  is  a 
well  printed  octavo,  and  its  frontispiece,  rep- 
resenting Lord  Percy  receiving  friendly  atten- 
tions from  Fame,  is  a  fine  engraving  by  J. 
Smithers.  The  real  and  abiding  interest  of 
the  book  is  found  in  the  fact  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  copy,  every  existing  specimen 
of  the  Military  Collections  has  been  carefully 
expurgated.  The  little  paragraph  which  has 
been  "  scissored  out "  does  not  deserve  quo- 
tation, for  it  is  only  a  dastardly  suggestion 
that  poisoned  arrows  should  be  used  against 
the  American  forces  to  inoculate  "these  stub- 
born, ignorant,  enthusiastic  savages "  with 
their  dread  enemy,  the  small-pox.  Yet  the 
fact  remains  that  Donkin  wrote  it,  Gaine 
printed  it,  and  some  person  left  just  this  one 
paragraph  uncut,  for  the  amusement  of  those 
who  go  to-day  in  search  of  literary  curi- 
osities. Gaine  amassed  great  wealth  by  his 
strict  devotion  to  business,  and  to  no  princi- 
ple beyond  that  of  money-getting.  As  may 


Game's 

publics* 

tfona 


144 


"Hew  H>orfc  press  an&  Its 


Samuel 

louton 


be  supposed,  there  was  much  cleverness  and 
even  brilliancy  in  this  ingenious  time-server, 
and  his  paper  shows  taste  and  ability;  but  he 
lived  at  the  wrong  time,  either  too  early  or  too 
late  for  the  exercise  of  his  shifty  talents. 

Among  the  publishers  who  were  forced  to 
flee  from  New  York  in  1776  was  Samuel  Lou- 
don,  an  Irishman,  who  had  established,  early 
in  that  year,  his  New-  York  Packet  and  Ameri- 
can Advertiser,  the  last  newspaper  started  in 
New  York  before  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. This  paper,  which  was  printed  at 
Fishkill  during  the  years  of  the  war,  is  inter- 
esting to  the  student  of  history  more  for  the 
pleasing  variations  in  its  elaborate  title,  with 
its  fine  cut  of  a  full-rigged  clipper  ship  and  its 
old  English  lettering  and  delicate  scroll-work, 
than  for  the  dry  details  in  its  three-columned 
page  of  fine  print. 

After  the  declaration  of  peace,  Loudon  re- 
turned to  New  York  and  established  himself 
at  5  Water  Street,  between  Old  Slip  and  the 
famous  Coffee  House,  on  the  corner  of  Wall 
and  Water  Streets.  Later  he  turned  his  paper 
from  a  weekly  to  a  daily,  and,  later  still, 
changed  its  name  to  The  Diary,  or  London's 
Register.  In  its  later  numbers,  his  journal, 
which  ran  on  until  1792,  fell  below  its  own 
early  standard,  and  far  below  that  of  its  con- 
temporaries, losing  even  its  especial  feature 
of  a  picturesque  title,  and  becoming  content 


ZTbe  Hew  J£orfe  press  ant)  Its  flDafeers 


with  plain  lettering.  Loudon's  Magazine, 
made  up  of  "  elegant  extracts,"  etc.,  was  the 
first  publication  of  the  kind  issued  in  New  York. 

There  was  but  one  newspaper  printed  in 
New  York  during  the  British  occupation  that 
continued  to  live  after  the  departure  of  that 
army.  This  was  the  New-  York  Morning  Post, 
established  in  1782,  by  William  Morton,  with 
whom  was  associated  Samuel-  Homer.  This 
paper  was  changed  to  a  daily  in  1786,  and 
had  its  day  until  1788. 

James  Rivington,  a  notable  figure  in  these 
ranks  under  review,  appeared  first  in  New 
York  in  September,  1760,  when  he  announced 
himself,  from  Hanover  Square,  as  "the  only 
London  bookseller  in  America."  He  had 
grown  rich  as  a  publisher  in  Paternoster  Row, 
London,  but  Newmarket  enticed  him,  and  its 
bookmakers  carried  off  the  bookseller's  for- 
tune. With  his  native  vigor,  and  little  else, 
he  started  out  to  retrieve  his  losses  in  the  new 
world.  From  New  York,  he  went  to  Phila- 
delphia for  three  years,  but  finally  established 
himself  permanently  in  this  town  in  1765,  and 
in  1772,  added  a  printing  office  to  his  shop. 
On  April  22,  1773,  he  bought  out  The  New- 
York  Gazetteer,  adorned  with  a  fine  cut  of  a 
ship,  labelled  The  London  Packet ;  promising, 
with  much  flourish,  in  a  long  prospectus,  that 
it  should  be  a  better  weekly  than  any  yet  seen 
in  the  town. 


louton's 


146 


Zlbe  flew  HJorfc  {press  anfc  Its  flDafeers 


BorH 
Oasetteer 


The  promise  was  kept  :  only  Zenger's  paper 
could  compare  with  the  Gazetteer.  Petty  and 
inadequate  as  it  is  to  modern  eyes,  it  was  an 
improvement  on  all  preceding  papers,  in  the 
quality  of  its  writing  and  the  freshness  of  its 
news.  Sales  were  large  and  advertisements — 
the  test  of  modern  success — came  in  rapidly. 
Two  specimens,  among  the  many,  will  serve 
to  show  the  then  form  of  advertisement : 
"To  be  lett,  and  entered  upon  the  first 
day  of  May  next" — the  moving  day  of 
modern  New  York  can  trace  its  origin  back 
through  more  than  a  century — "  the  two 
houses  at  present  occupied  by  Abraham  Lott, 
Esquire,  nearly  opposite  the  Fly-Market.  For 
particulars  apply  to  Mrs.  Provoost,  on  Golden 
Hill."  The  "Fly  Market  "—which  took  its 
name  from  a  corruption  of  the  Dutch  Vly 
or  Vlaie,  a  marsh  or  salt-meadow — occu- 
pies various  sites  on  the  old  maps  of  New 
York,  from  old  Queen  Street  to  the  corner 
now  occupied  by  its  lineal  descendent  Fulton 
Market.  The  weight  of  authority  seems  to 
place  it  at  the  head  of  what  is  now  Burling 
Slip.  "Golden  Hill"  gave  its  pleasant  name 
to  that  part  of  our  present  John  Street  which 
lies  between  William  and  Pearl  Streets. 

The  second  extract  shows  that  gentlemen 
were  given  to  letting  their  mansions,  from 
time  to  time,  even  as  they  do  to-day  :  "To 
be  lett,  from  the  2^th  of  March  next,  or  sooner 


IRew  JJJorfc  {Press  an£>  Hts  /iDafeers 


if  wanted,  the  pleasant  situated,  and  conve- 
nient  house  and  grounds  of  William  Bayard,  *a«a«>'0 
Esquire,  at  Greenwich.  Any  person  inclining 
to  hire  the  same  may  apply  to  the  owner 
living  on  the  premises,  or  to  Mr.  James  Riv- 
ington."  It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  English 
rental  quarter-days  had  survived  the  voyage 
to  this  country.  This  house  of  William  Bay- 
ard stood  on  the  bank  of  the  North  River, 
just  above  the  present  Christopher  Street ; 
thither  they  carried  Alexander  Hamilton  after 
his  fatal  duel  on  Weehawken  Heights,  rowing 
him  carefully  across  the  broad  river,  and  there 
he  died  after  a  day  of  hopeless  suffering.  A 
portion  of  the  house  was  standing  until  within 
a  few  years. 

The  title  of  Rivington's  paper  grew  with 
its  growth,  reaching  its  extreme  limit  in  1775, 
when  it  became  Rivington's  New-York  Ga%- 
etteer,  or,  The  Connecticut,  Hudson's  River, 
New-Jersey,  and  Quebec  Weekly  Advertiser, 
"  printed  at  his  open  and  uninfluenced  press 
fronting  Hanover  Square."  "Open  and  un- 
influenced "  for  a  few  months  only,  for,  neutral 
at  the  start — or  at  least  impartial  and  fair — 
Rivington's  press  had  become  a  violent  Tory 
in  1774.  At  about  this  time,  when  other 
printers  were  removing  the  royal  arms  from 
their  titles,  Rivington  adopted  them,  giving 
them  the  place  formerly  held  by  his  "  London 
Packet."  It  is  a  coincidence,  at  least,  that  in 


148 


ZTbe  Hew  HJorfc  press  anO  Its 


TRMng* 
ton'* 


July,  1774,  Lord  North  had  sent  out  a  hand- 
bill, offering  ^500  to  the  printer  who  would 
steadily  advocate  and  promote  all  ministerial 
measures. 

The  new  tone  of  the  Gazetteer  aroused 
intense  wrath  throughout  the  province  ;  its 
libels  and  fabrications  in  the  interest  of  the 
Administration  vexed  even  the  Tories ;  it  was 
more  loyal  than  the  king  himself  !  Perhaps  it 
unconsciously  aided  "the  good  cause" — to 
use  the  expression  of  Harvey  Birch — by  its 
wholesome  stimulation  of  the  "patriots." 
That  stimulus  went  so  far,  in  1775,  as  to 
move  the  mob,  mainly  from  Connecticut,  to 
wreck  Rivington's  shop  twice,  the  second 
time  destroying  his  presses  and  melting  his 
type  for  bullets.  He  was  forced  to  cease  pub- 
lication while  he  went  to  London  to  buy  new 
presses.  In  1777,  having  brought  back  from 
England  his  appointment  as  printer  to  the 
king,  as  well  as  the  necessary  presses  and 
type,  he  began  again  the  issue  of  his  paper, 
calling  it  at  first  Rivington's  New-York  Loyal 
Gazette,  and  later,  The  Royal  Gazette,  ' '  pub- 
lished at  New  York,  by  James  Rivington, 
Printer  to  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty." 
Its  popular  title  was  short  and  pithy — "The 
Lying  Gazette. "  This  came  out  twice  a  week. 
In  its  columns,  August  I,  1781,  appeared  the 
first  canto  of  John  Andre's  "  Cow  Chace;  "  the 
poem  running  through  three  numbers,  its  last 


flew  HJorfe  press  anfc  Uts  /iDafeers 


149 


canto  being  published  on  the  very  day  of  the 
capture  of  the  jaunty  author  by  the  comrades- 
in-arms  of  the  "  Warrio-drover  Wayne." 

The  first  attempt  at  a  daily  paper  in  New 
York  was  made  by  Rivington,  in  connection 
with  the  editors  of  four  other  Royalist  papers, 
who  arranged  their  weekly  issues  in  such 
order  that,  with  the  assistance  of  Rivington's 
bi-weekly  Gazette,  each  day  had  its  special 
paper. 

When  "the  rebels"  became  the  govern- 
ment, Rivington,  in  his  anxiety  to  retain  his 
subscription  list,  and  to  continue  his  paper, 
printed  the  following  explanation  and  apology 
in  its  columns  : 

"To  the  public: — The  publisher  of  this 
paper,  sensible  that  his  zeal  for  the  success  of 
his  Majesty's  arms,  his  sanguine  wishes  for 
the  good  of  his  country,  and  his  friendship  for 
individuals,  have,  at  times,  led  him  to  credit 
and  circulate  paragraphs  without  investigating 
the  facts  so  closely  as  his  duty  to  the  public 
demanded — trusting  to  their  feelings,  and  de- 
pending on  their  generosity — he  begs  them  to 
look  over  past  errors  and  depend  on  future 
correctness.  From  henceforth  he  will  neither 
expect  nor  solicit  their  favors  longer  than  his 
endeavors  shall  stamp  the  same  degree  of 
authenticity  and  credit  on  the  Royal  Gazette 
(of  New  York)  as  all  Europe  allows  to  the 
Royal  Gazette  of  London. "  This  did  not  suffice, 


/fret  at* 

tempt  at  a 

E>aflv 

paper 


Ube  flew  H?orft  press  anfc  Its  flDafeers 


tcn'eHttt= 
tube 


and  his  truthful  Gazette  failed  to  inherit  the 
success  of  its  lying  predecessor,  and  so  died  a 
natural  death  on  December  31,  1783. 

Rivington  died  in  1802,  in  his  house  in 
Pearl  Street,  No  156,  on  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  Wall  Street.  Rivington  Street,  which 
those  who  remember  it  as  "the  prettiest  street 
in  all  New  York  "  would  gladly  connect  with 
this  picturesque  old  Tory,  took  its  name  from 
an  entirely  different  family. 

Despite  the  possible  indirect  influence  of 
Lord  North's  ^£500,  it  may  not  be  said  that 
James  Rivington's  attitude  was  not  conscien- 
tious ;  conviction  was  as  common  with  the 
Tories  as  with  the  Whigs  ;  there  was  only 
one  Hugh  Gaine,  and  only  here  and  there,  on 
either  side,  one  who,  like  a  modern  Irish 
"Patriot"  was  "grateful  to  God  that  he  had 
a  country — to  sell."  Indeed,  it  was  the  honesty 
and  earnestness  on  both  sides  that  gave  birth 
to  such  bitterness,  and  aroused  a  more  fero- 
cious animosity  in  the  rebel  heart  against  the 
native  "Royalist"  than  was  felt  toward  the 
British  oppressors.  For  twenty  years  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  there  had  been 
agitation,  constantly  growing  stronger ;  tu- 
mult, and  ultimately  terror,  impassioned  men's 
minds.  It  was  not  a  period  of  repose,  civic, 
domestic,  or  personal ;  no  man  breathed  tran- 
quilly, no  voice  spoke  gently,  no  pen  was  en- 
listed for  decorous  and  urbane  combat.  And 


ZTbe  IRew  l^orfe  press  anfc  flts  Rafters 


many  pens — regulars  and  volunteers — were 
in  motion  during  these  years  ;  at  first  only  in 
defence  of  political  rights,  urging  that  they 
should  be  preserved  within  due  bounds,  with 
no  suggestion  of  breaking  loose  from  the 
mother  country  ;  then  in  defiance,  advocating 
independence,  and  expressing  the  conviction 
of  the  larger  portion  of  the  people  that  separa- 
tion was  the  sole  salvation  of  their  constitu- 
tional rights. 

Throughout  this  perturbed  period,  and 
during  the  war  that  followed,  there  was  a 
plentiful  out-put  of  newspaper-letters  from 
private  and  official  pens,  state  papers,  political 
essays,  addresses  and  sermons,  and  especially 
of  pamphlets — then  with  us  the  most  stirring 
appeal  to  the  populace,  as  with  France  a  little 
later,  as  with  England  a  little  earlier.  They 
spoke  on  both  sides,  and  were  strikingly  ear- 
nest and  authentic  documents  voicing  the  sen- 
timents and  judgments  of  the  entire  country. 
And  these  poor,  ill-printed,  dull-faced  little 
sheets  had  their  share  in  the  work  :  not  by 
virtue  of  their  editorial  pages,  which  were 
hardly  known  as  we  know  them,  but  through 
the  communications  sent  to  them  by  the  best 
thinkers  and  the  hardest  workers  on  either 
side,  as  has  been  noticed  in  the  case  of  Holt's 
Journal,  and  as  was  the  case  with  most  of 
the  other  papers.  Each  of  them  had  its  own 
corps  of  contributors,  men  of  ability,  character, 


political 
ftampblete 


152 


ZEbe  IRew  H?orfc  press  anfc  flts  flDafeers 


'Cbomas 
Paine 


and  standing,  who  were  glad  to  work,  with- 
out hire,  for  the  good  cause  as  each  one  judged 
it.  This  form  of  quasi-editorial  writing  gave 
telling  impulse  to  the  movement  towards 
revolution,  and  when  war  had  once  begun, 
contributed  immensely  to  its  success. 

It  is  beyond  the  province  of  this  paper,  on  a 
local  press  only,  to  do  more  than  refer,  with 
respect  and  gratitude,  to  the  work  done  and 
the  help  given  by  the  greatest  journalist,  the 
most  powerful  writer  of  pamphlets  during  this 
period,  "Tom"  Paine.  But  it  is  of  local  in- 
terest to  note  that  the  latest  homes  of  the  man 
who  was  a  phenomenal  force  in  our  early  his- 
tory, who,  with  his  Common  Sense,  wrought 
an  effect  "  rarely  produced  by  types  and  paper 
in  any  age  or  country,"  were  in  our  city,  and 
that  one  of  them  is  still  standing,  almost  un- 
changed, at  No.  309  Bleecker  Street.  This 
street  was  then  named  Herring  Street,  and  the 
little  two-story  and  attic  house,  which  stands 
so  dingily  on  the  street,  had  its  garden  once, 
and  was  trim  and  orderly  after  the  fashion  of 
its  day,  a  fashion  dimly  suggested  to  us  by  its 
delicate  dormer  windows,  and  huge  chimney. 

To  this  house  Paine  came  in  July,  1808 — 
Madame  Bonneville,  and  her  two  sons,  who 
had  followed  him  from  France,  living  quite 
near — and  here,  under  the  care  of  his  land- 
lady, Mrs.  Ryder,  he  spent  quiet  and  serene 
months.  Here,  as  we  stand  in  the  busy  street, 


TIbe  Hew  ]0orfe  press  ant)  Its  flDafcers 


153 


we  can  fancy  the  worn  warrior  sitting,  reading 
at  his  favorite  front  window,  or  perhaps  in  the 
sunlit  little  garden.  In  April,  1809,  when  his 
increasing  infirmities  demanded  more  constant 
care,  Madame  Bonneville  moved  with  him  to 
a  house  standing  well  back  from  Herring 
Street,  approached  by  a  path  through  the 
great  gardens  of  that  day  :  there  he  died  on 
the  eighth  of  June,  1809.  Grove  Street  has 
been  cut  through  these  old  gardens,  and  the 
site  of  the  room  in  which  Paine  died  is  now 
occupied  by  Number  59  in  that  street.  His 
martial  mission  to  his  adopted  country  had 
ended  with  the  successful  close  of  the  war  he 
had  done  so  much  to  sustain  and  speed.  "The 
times  that  tried  men's  souls  are  over,"  he 
wrote  in  the  last  number  of  his  Crisis,  after 
the  news  of  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  at 
Paris  had  reached  him. 

But  John  Jay,  three  years  later,  when  the 
first  flush  of  victory  had  passed  and  the  future 
was  dark  with  unanswered  questions,  wrote  to 
Washington;  "I  am  uneasy  and  apprehensive, 
more  so  than  during  the  war."  And  with  rea- 
son, for  although  the  question  of  independence 
had  been  answered,  other  issues  almost  as 
vital,  were  to  be  discussed,  other  appeals 
almost  as  impassioned,  were  to  be  made.  And 
now  a  new  mission  began  for  the  New  York 
Press.  The  writers,  who  had  brought  suc- 
cess to  the  Revolution  almost  as  much  as  had 


flew  2i>orfe  press  anfc  flts  flDafeers 


Political 
Problems 


the  men  in  the  field,  now  turned  their  pens, 
with  equal  energy,  to  settling  the  political 
problems  that  came  with  the  peace.  For  this 
new  warfare,  with  new  weapons,  men  did  not 
stop  to  put  on  gloves,  any  more  than  did 
those  eager  partisans  who  had  thrown  the  tea 
into  the  harbors. 

Of  the  many  pre-Revolutionary  papers,  but 
one  or  two  survived  the  seven  years  of  strife, 
and  even  this  remnant  changed  hands,  and 
sometimes  names.  New  journals  came  to  fill 
the  vacant  places,  and  the  press  improved 
greatly  in  ability  and  in  influence,  dividing  its 
forces  between  the  two  great  political  parties, 
now  first  formed  on  vital  national  issues  :  the 
Federalists,  devoted  to  the  new  constitution, 
and  to  Washington's  administration;  and  the 
Anti-Federalists — dubbed  "  Democrats  "  in 
derision — reinforced  by  the  Democratic-Re- 
publicans, generalled  by  Jefferson,  and  guided 
by  the  essential  principles  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution. The  attempt  to  create  a  strong  central 
government  and  a  closer  union  between  the 
States,  met  with  violent  opposition  from  many 
men  with  many  motives,  some  of  whom 
feared  to  lose  their  personal  advantage  and 
limited  glory  if  their  States  were  merged  in  a 
nation. 

One  New  York  paper  deserves  mention 
here  simply  for  the  sake  of  its  issue  of  Oc- 
tober 27,  1787.  The  first  number  of  the 


Ube  TRew  l^orfe  press  an£>  fits  flDafcers 


155 


Federalist  appeared,  on  that  day,  in  the  col- 
umns of  The  Independent  Journal,  printed  by 
J.  and  A.  McLean,  in  Hanover  Square.  The 
after  numbers  of  this,  "the  greatest  treatise 
of  government  that  has  ever  been  written," 
were  published,  in  the  Packet  and  other 
papers,  through  the  summer  of  1788.  Each 
of  the  numbers  was  signed  "Publius,"  a  pen- 
name  used  in  common  by  Hamilton,  Jay,  and 
Madison.  Three  of  these  brilliant  political 
papers  were  written  by  Hamilton  and  Madison 
in  collaboration  :  of  the  remainder,  Jay  wrote 
five  ;  Madison,  thirteen  ;  and  Hamilton,  sixty- 
three. 

Then,  as  now,  the  city  of  New  York  was 
the  key  to  the  political  situation,  and  the 
leaders  of  the  two  parties — Hamilton  and  Jay 
on  the  one  side,  Burr  and  the  Livingstons  on 
the  other — turned  all  their  energies  toward 
securing  the  vote  of  the  town.  In  this  con- 
flict, the  newspapers  played  an  important 
part,  carrying  the  "  liberty  of  the  Press  "  to  its 
farthest  limit,  in  their  bitter  attacks  on  their 
opponents.  In  addition  to  the  great  national 
points  at  issue,  there  were  many  minor  mat- 
ters that  caused  what  seems  to  us  at  this  dis- 
tance ludicrous  virulence  of  feeling  and  of 
language  :  such  as  the  intrigues  to  remove 
the  seat  of  government  from  town  to  town, 
with  intent  to  secure  a  sufficiently  central 
spot,  where  living  should  be  cheap  ;  the  res- 


ttbe 

tfc&etalfet 


Hew  l^orfe  press  anfc  Hts  flDafeers 


Virulence 

of  feeling 

anb  lan= 

guage 


toration  of  the  Tories  to  their  former  rights 
of  citizenship  ;  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  of 
1798  ;  the  demand  for  the  suppression  of  that 
blameless  body,  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  fated  to  lead  to  a 
"  military  nobility  and  an  hereditary  aris- 
tocracy "  ;  the  furious  electoral  struggle  be- 
tween Burr  and  Jefferson  in  1801  ;  Burr's  trial 
at  Richmond  in  1807,  for  attempted  treason 
"at  a  certain  place  called  and  known  by  the 
name  of  Blennerhassett's  Island  "  ;  the  outcry 
for  the  strengthening  of  the  navy,  too  feeble 
to  protect  our  fast-growing  sea  trade  ;  the 
rights  of  search  enforced  by  the  British,  in  all 
waters,  even  within  sight  of  our  shores  ;  the 
pitiable  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  in  June, 
1807  ;  the  famous  proclamation  of  President 
Madison,  the  embargo,  and  the  embittered 
negotiations  that  preceded  the  war  of  1812. 

In  these  discussions,  the  journals  and  fre- 
quent pamphlets  lashed  themselves  into  a 
fury,  hounded  on  by  the  powers  behind — 
politicians,  place-hunters,  patriots  —  whose 
patriotism,  in  too  many  cases,  was  covered 
completely  by  Dr.  Johnson's  definition,  "the 
last  refuge  of  a  scoundrel." 

That  the  observant  foreigner  was  not  lack- 
ing to  chronicle  this  unhappy  state  of  affairs 
is  shown  by  a  fat  and  foolish  volume,  issued 
from  the  press  of  Cundee,  in  Ivy  Lane,  and 
written  by  an  Englishman,  Charles  William 


ZTbe  IRew  l^orfe  press  an&  flts  Rafters 


157 


Janson,  Esquire,  under  the  imposing  title  of 
Observations  on  the  Genius,  Manners,  and 
Customs  of  the  United  States,  Made  During 
a  Long  Residence  in  that  Country.  "The 
Stranger  in  America,"  as  he  styled  himself, 
found  nothing  in  this  land,  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  to  please  him.  His 
fine  feelings  were  constantly  affronted,  his 
dignity  rumpled,  by  all  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact,  from  the  "  pert  virgin  "  demanding 
admiration,  to  the  "sullen  Yankee"  harbor- 
ing resentment.  "  Among  the  lower  orders," 
he  querulously  complains,  "in  spite  of  his 
endeavors  to  adapt  his  behaviour  to  their 
satisfaction,  he  was  regarded  as  proud  and 
haughty  ;  while  a  distant  kind  of  envious  ob- 
sequiousness, tinctured  by  an  affectation  of 
superiority,  was  but  too  evident  in  the  ma- 
jority of  his  equals."  He  becomes  lachry- 
mose over  "their  persistent  rancour  against 
the  mother  country  ;  so  pointed  also  in  their 
press." 

With  the  power  and  excesses  of  that  press, 
he  is  impressed,  with  real  reason,  for  nothing 
is  more  striking  than  its  cruelty  and  coarse- 
ness, its  venomous  vigor  of  invective,  its  con- 
tempt of  all  that  should  be  sacred  in  political 
warfare  and  in  private  life.  Too  many  of  its 
editors  and  writers  were,  in  the  words  of 
gentle  old  Isaiah  Thomas,  "  destitute  at  once 


Observa* 
tiona  of  a 
foreigner 


i58 


ttbe  IRew  l^orft  {press  an&  fits  flDafeers 


Cruelty 
an& 

Coarsc= 

ness  of 

tbe  press 


of  the  urbanity  of  gentlemen,  the  information 
of  scholars,  and  the  principles  of  virtue." 
They  raged  madly  at  one  another  as  "vermin 
and  foxes,"  as  "minions  of  sedition,"  as  "no- 
torious Jacobins."  Bache,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  styled  "the  greatest  fool,  and  most  stub- 
born sans-culotte  "  in  the  land.  His  Aurora 
spoke  of  Washington  as  "the  man  who  is  the 
source  of  all  misfortunes  to  the  country,"  and 
coarsely  quoted,  when  the  first  President  re- 
tired to  Mount  Vernon  after  the  inauguration 
of  Adams,  "Now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant 
depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy 
salvation  ";  exultant  that  "the  name  of  Wash- 
ington from  this  day  ceases  to  give  currency 
to  political  iniquity  and  to  legalized  corrup- 
tion." Major  Benjamin  Russell,  in  his  Sen- 
tinel, is  equally  hysterical  over  the  election  of 
Jefferson.  Callender  spoke  of  President  Adams 
as  "  a  hoary-headed  incendiary, — the  scourge, 
the  scorn,  the  outcast  of  society." 

These  amenities  were  not  confined  to  edi- 
tors, and  it  is  a  high  government  official, 
Pickering,  the  Postmaster-General,  who  ex- 
presses his  opinion  in  the  following  gentle 
statement :  "The  critic  is  a  liar,  who  lies  be- 
cause it  is  natural  to  him  and  because  he  can- 
not help  it."  Among  themselves  the  editors 
exchanged  even  more  pointed  personalities,  so 
that  suits  for  slander, — wherein  the  defendant 
had  sometimes  only  to  read  aloud  in  court  the 


Hew  l^orfc  press  an&  flts  flDafeers 


159 


plaintiff's  own  words  to  be  acquitted, — street 
brawls  with  fists  and  pistols,  duels,  and  even 
murders,  were  not  at  all  infrequent.  This 
astoundingly  shabby  spectacle  ceased  to  exist 
only  toward  the  end  of  the  second  war  with 
England,  when  the  various  American  victories, 
ashore  and  at  sea,  were  hailed  with  equal  ex- 
ultation by  both  factions  of  the  press  and  the 
people.  Parties  were  drawn  closer  together, 
partisan  poison  became  attenuated  in  the  body 
politic,  and  with  the  election  of  Monroe,  Fed- 
eralism, as  a  force,  faded  away,  "the  era  of 
good  feeling  coming  in,"  as  Major  Russell  ex- 
pressed it. 

In  the  midst  of  the  most  rancorous  period, 
a  paper  was  started  which  took  no  note  of 
party  strife.  This  was  The  Shipping  and  Com- 
mercial List  and  New-York  Price  Current, 
which  was  first  published  on  December  19, 
1795,  by  one  James  Oram,  a  New  York  printer, 
at  33  Liberty  Street — the  then  recently  re- 
named Crown  Street.  This  paper  concerned 
itself  with  business  only,  and  printed  no  gen- 
eral news — which,  perhaps,  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  it  was  not  drawn  into  the  quarrels  of 
the  time — and  devoted  its  weekly  issue  to 
commercial,  financial,  and  shipping  interests, 
with  their  allied  industries  and  trades.  In 
1795,  John  Jay  negotiated  his  much  criticised 
commercial  treaty  with  England,  insuring  the 
American  merchant  marine  from  Great  Britain's 


TIbe  Sbfp. 

ptng  ans 

Comma;* 

cial  list 

an&  Hew* 

t'orfc  price 

Current 


i6o 


ZTbe  flew  HJorfc  press  anfc  Its  takers 


Born 

Comment 
cial 


privateers  ;  so  laying  the  foundation  for  what 
was  once  one  of  the  greatest  industries  of  the 
United  States — its  carrying  trade  to  other 
countries.  This  new  life  found  no  voice  in 
the  daily  press  of  that  day,  and  John  Gram's 
paper,  a  folio  of  letter-sheet  size,  which  came 
out  every  Monday,  was  of  immense  value  to 
merchants  with  its  full  accounts  of  all  shipping 
matters,  the  sailings  01  every  vessel,  and  the 
current  prices  of  all  staple  commodities. 

The  Shipping  and  Commercial  List  and  New- 
York  Price  Current  is  still  in  existence,  that 
old  name  serving  as  the  sub-title  of  The  New 
York  Commercial — a  title  which  it  has  been 
allowed  to  adopt  after  some  legal  difficulties 
with  its  contemporary  of  a  hundred  years 
standing,  The  Commercial  Advertiser — and 
claims  to  be  the  oldest  paper  of  its  sort  in  the 
country.  The  little  weekly  folio  is  grown  to 
be  an  important  daily  of  sixteen  pages,  still 
devoted  entirely  to  snipping  and  trade  news, 
finding  a  large  demand  for  its  special  infor- 
mation, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  modern 
journals  devote  so  much  space  to  the  same 
subject. 

In  1895,  was  celebrated  the  centenary  of 
trade  journalism  and  of  American  commercial 
freedom,  a  fitting  commemoration  of  John  Jay's 
diplomacy  and  of  John  Gram's  journal,  whose 
file  for  the  last  hundred  years  gives  a  complete 
detailed  account  of  one  of  our  greatest  interests. 


ZTbe  flew  Korfc  press  an&  Its  flDahers 


161 


If  it  were  possible  to  get  complete  files  of 
the  many  literary  and  political  papers  in  our 
land  and  in  this  town  that  were  contemporary 
with  the  Shipping  and  Commercial  List,  one 
would  have  at  hand  all  the  doings  of  "  History 
in  her  workshop."  The  statistics  that  cover 
only  so  short  a  period  as  that  between  Janu- 
ary and  July,  1810,  are  full  of  interest  and  sur- 
prise, for  the  proportion  of  political  journals  to 
the  population  was  greater  than  the  world  had 
ever  witnessed  ;  more  surprising  still  when 
we  bear  in  mind  that  the  great  body  of  the 
reading  and  criticising  public  was  employed 
in  daily  labor.  At  no  time  and  in  no  land  had 
the  masses  hitherto  had  access  so  easily  and 
so  cheaply  to  the  news  and  the  knowledge 
and  the  discussions  of  the  public  press  ;  and 
they  were  bent  on  improving  their  opportuni- 
ties at  any  cost,  even  at  the  cost  of  the  pub- 
lishers. When  unable  to  pay  in  current  coin, 
they  paid  in  all  sorts  of  odd  merchandise,  and 
distant  subscribers  were  supplied  on  credit : 
"which  accounts,"  says  a  nai've  chronicler 
of  the  period,  "for  the  large  circulation  of 
some  journals." 


proper* 

tion  of 

political 

Journals 

tO  POPIU 

lation 


162        Ube  View  £>orft  press  and  fits 


REFERENCES. 

[Specific  references  to  newspapers  are  given  in  the  text.] 

The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  with  a  Biography 
of  Printers,  and  an  Account  of  Newspapers.  ISAIAH 
THOMAS,  printer,  Worcester,  1810. 

Journalism  in  the  United  States,  from  1690  to  1872. 
FREDERICK  HUDSON,  New  York,  1873. 

Printers  and  Printing  in  New  York.  C.  R.  HILDEBURN, 
New  York,  1895. 

Address  delivered  at  the  Celebration  by  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  May  20,  i86j,  of  the  Two  Hundredth 
Anniversary  of  the  Birthday  of  Mr.  William  Brad- 
ford, who  Introduced  the  Art  of  Printing  into  the 
Middle  Colonies  of  British  America.  JOHN  WILLIAM 
WALLACE,  of  Philadelphia.  Albany,  1863. 

Military  Collections  and  Remarks.  MAJOR  DONKIN.  Hugh 
Gaine,  New  York,  1777. 

Old  Streets,  Roads,  Lanes,  Piers,  and  Wharves  of  New 
York,  Showing  Former  and  Present  Names.  JOHN  G. 
POST,  New  York,  1882. 

The  Life  of  Thomas  Paine,  with  a  History  of  his  Literary, 
Political,  and  Religious  Career  in  America,  France, 
and  England.  MONCURE  DANIEL  CONWAY,  New  York, 
1892. 


BOWLING  GREEN 


163 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  V. 


BOWLING  GREEN. 

BY  SPENCER  TRASK. 

NEW  YORK  is  cosmopolitan,  essentially 
so,  beyond  all  large  cities  of  the  world. 
Absorbed  in  the  whirl  and  stir  of  the  To-day, 
occupied  with  vast  schemes  and  enterprises 
for  the  To-morrow,  overswept  by  a  constant 
influx  of  new  life  and  new  elements,  it  seems 
to  have  no  individual  entity.  It  does  not  hold 
fast  its  old  traditions,  its  past  associations.  It 
is  hurried  on,  in  the  quickstep  of  its  march  of 
improvement,  far  away  from  its  starting-point; 
and  as  it  goes  and  grows  with  rapid  progress 
into  something  new  and  vast,  it  ruthlessly 
obliterates  its  old  landmarks  and  forgets  its 
early  history.  It  is  well,  sometimes,  to  look 
back  and  remember  the  beginning  of  things, 
to  quicken  our  civic  pride  by  measuring  our 
growth,  to  recall  the  struggles  and  the  con- 
quests which  proved  the  courage,  patience, 
and  stamina  of  the  people  who  made  New 
York  what  it  is. 


165 


flfiarcb  of 
Improves 

incut 


i66 


<5reen 


Carter 

wttb 
Indians 


There  is  no  piece  of  land  on  Manhattan  Is- 
land which  has  retained  for  a  longer  period  its 
distinctive  name,  and  at  the  same  time  fulfilled 
more  thoroughly  the  purposes  of  its  creation, 
than  the  small  park  at  the  extreme  southern 
end  of  Broadway,  known  as  Bowling  Green. 
It  is  the  one  historic  spot  which  has  never 
lost  its  identity  or  been  diverted  from  public 
use  since  the  foundation  of  the  city. 

The  history  of  the  city  from  the  time  when 
the  good  ship  Sea  Mew  sailed  into  the  bay, 
May  6,  1626,  bearing  the  doughty  Dutch  Gov- 
ernor, Peter  Minuet, — with  no  city  and  no  peo- 
ple as  yet  to  govern, — to  the  present,  might 
almost  be  written  from  what  has  been  seen 
and  heard  from  this  small  plot  of  land. 

The  West  India  Company  was  chartered  by 
the  States-General  of  Holland  in  1621.  In  1625, 
enough  capital  had  been  raised,  and  colonists 
obtained,  to  warrant  the  Company  in  begin- 
ning to  avail  itself  of  the  almost  unlimited 
privileges  granted,  of  exclusive  trade  along 
the  whole  Atlantic  coast,  and  of  almost  sov- 
ereign power.  The  first  act  of  the  honest 
Dutchman  on  that  May  morn  was  to  call  to- 
gether the  Manhattan  tribe  of  Indians,  proba- 
bly on  the  very  site  of  the  future  Green.  There 
he  traded  for  the  whole  island,  named  after  the 
tribe,  estimated  at  that  time  to  contain  about 
"  11,000  Dutch  morgens,"  '  or  22,000  acres,  a 
quantity  of  beads,  trinkets,  etc.,  valued  at  sixty 


(Breen 


167 


guilders,  or  about  twenty-four  dollars,  a  sum 
far  less  than  that  now  paid  for  a  single  square 
foot  of  any  portion  of  that  land  which  then 
came  within  his  vision.  From  this  sharp  bar- 
gain was  to  grow  the  city  that  was  destined 
to  be  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  new 
continent,  and  the  second  largest  city  of  the 
world. 

In  order  to  insure  peaceable  possession,  a 
fort  was  built,  seemingly  under  the  direction 
of  one  Kryn  Frederycke,  and  in  1635,  a  larger 
one  was  erected  at  the  contract  price  of 
$1635.  It  was  300  feet  long,  and  250  wide. 
This  enclosed  the  Governor's  house,  barracks, 
and,  later,  the  church.  The  contract  for  the 
building  of  the  church  required  it  to  be  of 
"Rock  Stone,"  72  feet  long,  52  feet  broad, 
and  16  feet  high.  The  price  was  $1000.  This 
fort  occupied  the  space  between  the  present 
streets  called  Whitehall,  Bridge,  State,  and 
Bowling  Green.  The  sally-port  was  at  the 
north. 

The  large  open  space  opposite  the  sally-port 
was  set  apart  and  known  at  first  as  "The 
Plaine,"  afterwards  to  become  the  Bowling 
Green.  It  held  a  place  of  great  importance  in 
the  annals  of  the  city  in  times  of  peace  and  times 
of  war.  This  was  the  village  green,  which 
marked  the  growing  social  life  of  the  people. 
Here  the  children  played,  looking  far  off  into  the 
watery  distance  as  they  remembered  stories  of 


Ube  fort 


i68 


fowling  6reen 


130W  tbC 

Orccn  was 

XlsCt 


their  grandfathers'  and  fathers'  homes  beyond 
the  sea  ;  here  the  youths  and  maidens  danced 
on  holidays  and  crowned  their  loveliest  on  the 
first  of  May,  wreathing  their  May-poles  with 
the  early  green.  It  was  also  the  parade-ground 
for  the  soldiers.  On  Sundays,  we  can  see  it 
crowded  with  the  country  wagons  of  all  de- 
scriptions, of  those  who  came  to  worship  at  the 
church  "within  the  Fort,"  the  horses  being 
turned  loose  to  graze  on  the  hillside  running 
down  to  the  water  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Battery.  Here,  also,  was  the  well,  built  for  the 
use  both  of  the  garrison  and  of  the  general  pub- 
lic. Tradition  has  affirmed  that  the  site  of  this 
well  was  originally  a  spring,  the  surplus  waters 
of  which  ran  in  a  little  brook  down  the  present 
line  of  Beaver  Street,  and  contributed  to  form 
the  marsh  in  the  present  Broad  Street,  thei 
called  "  Blommaert's  "  Valley. 

Here  Governor  Van  Twiller  proved  his  valor 
and  his  contempt  for  the  English.  An  English 
trading  vessel  came  into  the  bay  to  trade  with 
Indians  up  the  river.  One  of  the  sailors  de- 
poses that 

"The  Dutch  here  inhabitinge  send  and  com- 
mand all  our  Companye  (excepte  one  boye) 
to  come  to  their  forte,  where  they  staide  about 
twoe  houres  and  the  Governor  commande  his 
gunner  to  make  ready  three  peeces  of  ordnance 
and  shott  them  off  for  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  sprede  the  Prince's  Coloures.  Where- 


Bowling  (Breen 


169 


upon  Jacob  Elekins,  the  merchant's  factor  of 
the  Shippe,  the  William,  commande  William 
Fforde  of  Lymehouse  (the  gunner)  to  go  abord 
the  Shippe  and  sprede  her  coloures  and  shoote 
off  three  peeces  of  ordnance  for  the  Kinge  of 
England."1 

Then  Jacob  Elekins  coolly  sailed  up  the  river 
in  defiance  of  the  guns  of  the  fort,  leaving  the 
astonished  Governor  to  meditate  on  his  auda- 
city. Thunderstruck  at  such  an  act  of  temer- 
ity, Van  Twiller  summoned  all  the  people  to 
"The  Plaine,"  then  ordering  a  cask  of  wine 
and  another  of  beer  to  be  rolled  out,  he  filled 
a  glass  and  called  on  all  good  citizens  to  drink 
a  health  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  confusion 
to  the  English. 

Here,  after  two  years  of  a  bloody  and  sav- 
rage  war  with  the  surrounding  Indians,  during 
which  the  island  was  almost  depopulated,  the 
farms  destroyed,  and  many  adjacent  settle- 
ments obliterated,  the  sachems  of  all  the  hos- 
tile tribes  assembled  August  30,  1645,  smoked 
the  calumet  of  peace,  and  buried  the  toma- 
hawk, pledging  eternal  friendship  with  the 
whites.* 

In  1641,  Governor  Kieft  established  two  an- 
nual fairs  for  the  encouragement  of  agricul- 
ture, the  first  for  cattle,  to  begin  October  1 5, 
and  the  second  for  hogs,  to  begin  November  i. 
These  were  ordered  to  be  held  "att  the  mar- 
kett  house  and  plaine  afore  the  forte."  This 


Ureatie 
with  tbe 


Bowling  Green 


Bnnual 

fairs 


fair  was  the  great  annual  event  of  the  city, 
forerunner  of  the  Horse  Fair  and  Dog  Show. 
We  can  picture  the  sturdy  burghers  and  their 
fair  vrouws,  in  all  the  glory  of  starched  ruffs 
and  variegated  quilted  petticoats,  discussing 
the  respective  merits  of  their  Holsteins  and 
hogs.  One  inducement  held  out  to  attract 
strangers  was  that  no  one  should  be  liable  for 
arrest  for  debt  during  the  continuance  of  the 
fair.  This  must  have  materially  added  to  the 
number  of  visitors. 

The  peace  and  quiet  of  the  worthy  burgh- 
ers, as  indicated  by  these  fairs  and  social  gath- 
erings, were  rudely  shaken  when,  early  in 
1653,  a  war  having  broken  out  between  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  an  invasion  from  New 
England  was  threatened.  At  a  General  Ses- 
sion of  the  Councillors  held  March  13,  1653,* 
it  was  resolved, 

"  ist.  That  the  whole  body  of  citizens  shall 
keep  watch  by  night  in  such  places  as  shall 
be  designated,  the  City  Tavern  to  be  the  tem- 
porary headquarters." 

"  2nd.  That  the  fort  be  repaired." 

"jrd.  Because  the  fort  is  not  large  enough 
to  contain  all  the  inhabitants,  it  is  deemed 
necessary  to  enclose  the  city  with  palisades 
and  breastworks." 

"4th.  Some  way  must  be  devised  to  raise 
money." 

"  5th.  Captain  Vischer  is  to  be  requested  to 


Bowling  Green 


171 


fix  his  sails,  to  have  his  piece  loaded,  and  to 
keep  his  vessel  in  readiness." 

(Whether  for  fight  or  flight  is  not  said.) 

Evidently  not  much  reliance  could  have 
been  placed  upon  the  palisades,  for  on  July 
28,  the  Governor  sends  a  missive  to  the  City 
Magistrates,  stating  that  the  palisades  are 
completed,  and  requesting  them  "to  keep 
the  hogs  away  from  the  repaired  ramparts  of 
the  Fort." 5  Some  years  later  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing entry : 

"Whereas,  the  fortifications  of  this  city 
have  at  great  and  excessive  expense,  trouble 
and  labor  of  the  Burghery  and  inhabitants, 
been  mostly  completed,  and  it  is  therefore 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  same 
and  better  security  of  this  city  some  orders  be 
made,  therefore 

"Ittem.  It  is  strictly  forbidden  and  pro- 
hibited, that  any  person,  be  he  who  he  may, 
presume  to  land  within  this  City,  or  quit  the 
same  in  any  other  manner,  way  or  means, 
than  thro  the  ordinary  City  Gate,  on  paine  of 
Death.  And  finally,  as  it  is  found  that  the 
hogs  which  are  kept  within  this  city  in  multi- 
tudes along  the  public  streets,  have  from  time 
to  time  committed  great  damage  on  the  east- 
ern fortifications,  and  that  the  same  are  most 
certainly  to  be  expected  in  like  manner  here 
on  the  erected  works,  every  one  who  keeps 
hogs  within  this  city  is  there  ordered  and 


Ube 
jfortfficas 

tions 


172 


fowling  Green 


3cstruc= 

tion  of  tbe 

Swcfisb 

fott 


charged  to  take  care  that  their  hogs  shall  not 
come  to,  in  or  on  the  Bulwarks,  Bastions, 
Gardens  or  Batteries,  under  forfeiture  of  said 
hogs,  and  double  the  value  thereof,  to  be  ap- 
plied the  one  half  for  the  informer,  the  other 
half  for  the  informer  who  shall  put  this  in  exe- 
cution. Every  one  is  hereby  warned  and  put 
on  his  guard  against  injury." 

"By  order  of  the  Heer  Govnr.  Gen.  of  N. 
Netherlands. 

N.  Bayard,  Sec'y." 

Fortunately  no  more  serious  assaults  than 
these  from  the  hogs  and  from  the  horns  of  the 
cattle  were  made  against  the  palisades,  for 
peace  was  shortly  after  declared  between 
England  and  Holland,  and  their  colonies  had 
to  restrain  their  martial  ardor. 

The  following  year  but  one  was  again  full 
of  fears;  for  in  February,  1655,  a  council  of 
war  was  held  to  consider  a  threatened  attack 
of  the  Swedes  on  the  South  (Delaware)  River. 
It  was  then  "Deemed  necessary  that  the  for- 
tifications be  repaired  " — the  cattle  probably  in 
the  meantime  having  become  obstreperous 
and  displayed  their  ferocity  against  the  stock- 
ade— "by  spiking  with  good  spikes,  a  blind 
of  planks  five  or  six  feet  in  height  against  the 
palisades." 

Again  was  all  this  precaution  useless,  for, 
the  Swedes  not  coming,  Governor  Stuyvesant 
decided  to  go  to  them  ;  and  the  council  of 


Bowling  Green 


173 


war,  at  a  special  meeting,  having  applied  for 
and  obtained  "two  drummers  to  improve  the 
marching  of  the  militia,"  the  valiant  army  set 
forth,  and  returned  triumphant,  having  de- 
stroyed the  Swedish  fort.  Later  in  this  year 
a  foray  of  Indians  was  made  in  the  surround- 
ing country,  and  the  vigilant  magistrates,  on 
September  20,  resolved  "to  raise  up  the  pal- 
isades to  the  height  of  at  least  10  or  12  feet, 
to  prevent  the  overloopen  [jumping  over] of 
the  savages." 

The  palisades,  or  stockade,  extended  along 
the  East  River,  from  near  the  present  head  of 
Coenties  Slip,  on  the  line  of  Pearl  Street, 
crossing  the  fields  to  the  North  River,  on  the 
present  north  side  of  Wall  Street  (whence  its 
name),  and  then  along  the  North  River  to  the 
fort,  just  east  of  Greenwich  Street,  which  was 
then  under  water.  The  map  of  the  city  in 
1695  shows  the  line  of  the  palisades.  In 
digging  the  foundation  of  the  new  Bowling 
Green  Offices,  5-11  Broadway,  a  large  num- 
ber of  these  old  posts  were  found  many  feet 
under  the  surface.  Although  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  old,  the  portions  found  were 
in  a  wonderful  state  of  preservation.  Canes  and 
other  mementos  have  been  made  from  these. 

War's  rude  alarms  for  a  while  having  ceased, 
the  citizens  turned  their  attention  to  the  im- 
proving of  the  city.  First,  a  census  was  taken, 
which  showed  120  houses  and  1000  inhabit- 


bc  Palis 
sa&ea 


174 


JSowlincj  Green 


Cits  Im» 
proves 
ments 


ants.  The  average  price  of  the  best  city  lots 
was  then  fifty  dollars,  while  the  rent  of  an  av- 
erage good  house  was  fourteen  dollars  per  an- 
num. 

The  ditch,  which  heretofore  had  run  through 
the  centre  of  Broad  Street,  was  sided  up  with 
boards.  Several  of  the  streets  were  ordered 
paved  with  stone,  whence  Stone  Street  re- 
ceived its  name,  being  one  of  the  first  paved 
streets  in  the  city. 

In  1659,  an  ordinance  was  passed  establish- 
ing a  public  market  on  the  present  Bowling 
Green.' 

"It  is  found  good  and  resolved,  that  for  all 
fat  cattle  brought  to  the  market  (not  slaugh- 
tered) posts  shall  be  erected  by  the  side  of  the 
church  where  those  who  bring  such  cattle  to 
market  for  sale  shall  present  them. 

"It  is  also  resolved,  that  shambles  be  built, 
a  cover  be  made,  and  a  block  brought  in,  and 
that  the  key  be  given  to  Andries,  the  baker, 
who  shall  keep  oversight  of  the  same." 

It  was  at  this  time  made  the  duty  of  the 
Sheriff  to  go  around  the  city  at  night.  He  evi- 
dently must  have  considered  this  as  detracting 
from  his  dignity,  for  he  officially  complains, 
"That  the  dogs  attack  him;  that  the  people 
cause  frights  by  halloing  '  Indian '  in  the  night, 
and  that  the  boys  cut  '  koeckies.'" 

For  some  time  the  English  colonists  occu- 
pying the  country  to  the  north  and  the  south 


JBowling  <3reen 


175 


of  New  Netherland  had  been  restive,  and  the 
home  government  was  more  than  willing  to 
back  up  their  claims  that  no  rival  power 
should  separate  their  possessions,  claiming 
that  the  Dutch  occupation  was  usurpation 
of  the  English  rights.  Charles  the  Second, 
with  kingly  liberality,  granted  a  patent  under 
date  of  March  12,  1664,  to  his  brother  James, 
Duke  of  York,  bestowing  upon  him  the  whole 
of  New  Netherland,  and  that  part  of  Con- 
necticut lying  west  of  the  Connecticut  River. 
That  he  had  no  right  or  title  in  this  property 
disturbed  him  little,  he  believing,  with  other 
monarchs  of  that  time,  that  might  made  right. 
The  King  had  previously  granted  to  the  Earl 
of  Sterling  the  whole  of  Long  Island;  in  order 
to  consolidate  his  possessions,  James  bought 
this  of  him  for  three  hundred  pounds,  and 
then  arranged  to  send  an  expedition  to  take 
formal  possession  of  all  his  new  territory. 
The  utter  uselessness  of  resistance,  notwith- 
standing the  amount  of  work  and  time  that 
had  been  spent  upon  the  fort  and  palisades, 
was  apparent  to  the  Governor's  Council  and 
the  Burgomasters,  even  if  not  to  the  Governor 
himself.  In  vain  Peter  Stuyvesant  stormed 
around  on  his  wooden  leg,  endeavoring  to 
infuse  his  own  courage  into  the  others.  He 
finally,  however,  was  compelled  to  yield  to 
necessity,  and  on  August  26,  1664,  the  capit- 
ulation was  formally  agreed  upon,  New  Am- 


"Cbc  Ca= 

pitulation 

of  "Wew 

Bmstcf= 

dam 


i76 


fowling  Green 


Uerms  of 
Surrender 


sterdam  thenceforth  becoming  (except  for  a 
short  period  when,  in  1673,  the  Dutch  retook 
the  city  and  held  it  for  about  a  year)  known 
as  New  York.  The  terms  of  surrender  were 
most  favorable,  it  being  agreed  that  the  West 
Indies  Company  should  enjoy  all  their  "fast 
property  "  except  forts,  etc.  ;  the  then  magis- 
trates were  continued  in  office  until  future 
election  by  the  people  ;  the  Dutch  inhabitants 
were  confirmed  in  their  property  and  liberties. 
There  seems  little  question  but  that  the  people 
generally  felt  that  the  change  of  government 
would  be  for  their  ultimate  good.  At  any 
rate,  they  accepted  the  situation  gracefully, 
for  a  few  months  after  the  capitulation  the 
magistrates  (being  the  same  who  had  been  in 
office  at  the  time  of  the  surrender)  sent  the 
following  petition : T 

"To  His  Royal  Highness  The  Duke  of  York, 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  our  most  Gracious  Lord, 
Greeting." 

"It  hath  pleased  God  to  bring  us  under 
your  R.  H's  obediance,  wherein  we  promise 
to  conduct  ourselves  as  good  subjects  are 
bound  to  do,  deeming  ourselves  fortunate 
that  His  Highness  hath  provided  us  with  so 
gentle,  wise,  and  intelligent  a  gentleman  for 
Governor  as  the  Hon.  Col.  Richard  Nichols, 
confident  and  assured  that  under  the  wings 
of  this  valiant  gentleman  we  shall  bloom  and 
grow  like  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon." 


Bowling  <5reen 


177 


Assuming  that  this  gracious  acceptance  of 
the  inevitable,  in  all  the  rhetorical  splendor  of  its 
mixed  metaphor,  must  soften  his  heart,  they  at 
once  proceed  to  request  further  rights  and  privi- 
leges, and  pray  to  be  relieved  from  certain  on- 
erous imposts  and  burdens  for  five  or  six  years. 

"  Doubting  not  but  His  Royal  Highness 
will  at  the  close  of  these  years  learn  with 
hearty  delight  the  advancement  of  this  Prov- 
ince, even  to  a  place  from  which  your  Royal 
Highness  shall  come  to  derive  great  revenue, 
being  then  peopled  with  thousands  of  fami- 
lies, and  having  great  trade  by  sea  from  New 
England  and  other  places  out  of  Europe,  Af- 
rica or  America." 

Certainly  these  Burgomasters,  with  their 
prophetic  souls,  could  not  be  accused  of  any 
old-fashioned  ideas  as  to  loyalty  and  allegiance 
to  their  past,  for  in  the  very  next  year,  in  the 
record  of  the  "proceedings  of  the  Burgomas- 
ters and  Schepens,"  under  date  of  June  24, 
1665,  it  is  recorded:  "This  day,  after  the 
usual  ringing  of  the  city-hall  bell  three  times, 
is  published  a  certain  proclamation  regarding 
the  confiscation  of  the  West  India  Go's  ef- 
fects, in  consequence  of  the  Company  inflict- 
ing all  sorts  of  injury  on  His  Royal  Majesty's 
subjects."  Thus  passed  away  the  last  rights 
of  the  West  India  Company. 

In  1672,  war  having  been  declared  by  Eng- 
land against  Holland,  a  Dutch  fleet  appeared 


IRecaptuce 

of  tbe  Cits 

b's  tbe 

Sutcb 


i78 


^Bowling  0reen 


first 
Gbartec 
an&  Seal 


in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  recaptured 
the  city  on  August  9,  1673.  The  name  was 
then  changed  to  New  Orange.  Only  for  a 
short  period,  however,  were  the  Dutch  al- 
lowed to  retain  possession,  for  the  next  year 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  between  the  par- 
ent countries,  by  the  terms  of  which  Surinam 
was  given  to  the  Dutch  as  an  equivalent  for 
New  York  !!  The  city  was  restored  to  the 
English,  November  10,  1674,  and  the  name 
changed  back  to  New  York.  Under  the  sway 
of  the  English,  increased  prosperity  came  to 
the  city.  Among  the  privileges  granted  was 
a  monopoly  in  the  bolting  of  flour  and  in  the 
exportation  of  sea-biscuit  and  flour.  The  im- 
portance of  this  monopoly,  which  lasted  un- 
til 1694,  can  hardly  be  over-estimated,  since 
it  gave  New  York  a  commercial  importance 
which  it  has  never  since  lost.  In  1686,  under 
Governor  Dongan,  a  charter  was  granted  to 
the  city,  which  still  forms  the  basis  of  its  mu- 
nicipal rights  and  privileges.  At  the  same 
time  a  new  seal  was  given  which,  with  the 
substitution  of  an  eagle  for  a  crown  and  a 
sailor  for  one  of  the  Indians,  is  virtually  the 
present  seal  of  the  city.  This  seal  retained 
the  beaver  from  the  old  seal  of  1623,  emblem- 
atic of  the  city's  commercial  beginning,  and 
added  to  it  the  flour-barrel  and  the  arms  of  a 
wind-mill,  as  tokens  of  the  prosperity  which 
had  come  to  it  from  the  Bolting  Act. 


Bowling  (Sreen 


179 


Interesting  as  it  would  be  to  follow  the  his- 
tory of  the  city  and  its  gradual  progress  to- 
wards its  present  condition,  space  compels  us 
to  confine  ourselves  more  especially  to  those 
events  and  changes  which  show  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  Bowling  Green  and  its  immediate 
neighborhood.  The  lower  part  of  Broadway, 
facing  Bowling  Green,  in  common  with  that 
upon  the  east-side,  was  simply  designated  as 
"The  Market-field."  Afterwards,  it  received 
the  name  of  the  "  Heere  Straat,"  or  principal 
street,  and  later  the  name  "Broad  Way." 
Grants  of  lots  were  first  made,  and  deeds 
given,  in  1642.  Until  then  settlers  had  been 
allowed  to  occupy  land  as  they  saw  fit,  and 
lines  and  boundaries  were  established  by 
chance,  or  according  to  each  one's  own  sweet 
will. 

In  1643,  the  first  lot  granted  on  "  De  Heere 
Straat "  was  deeded  to  Martin  Cregier.  It  was 
thus  described  (translated  from  the  Dutch)  : 8 

"Grant  to  Marten  Cregier,  1643.  Lot  for  a 
house  and  garden  lying  north  of  the  Fort,  ex- 
tending from  the  house,  about  west,  nine  rods 
two  feet ;  towards  the  fort,  south,  six  rods 
nine  feet.  Again  about  east,  with  a  great 
out-point,  fourteen  rods  six  feet ;  further,  to 
the  place  of  beginning,  four  rods  five  feet. 
Amounting,  in  an  uneven,  four-sided  figure, 
to  eighty-six  rods  three  feet."  This  lot  is 
now  known  as  numbers  9  and  1 1  Broadway, 


ffiret 
Grants 
of  lots 


i8o 


Bowlincj  (Breen 


first  Ht= 
tempts  to 
Jfif  lines 

anb 

J6ount>= 
acies 


being  part  of  the  land  upon  which  the  Bowl- 
ing Green  Offices  are  built. 

The  city  fathers,  in  their  later  attempt  to  lay 
out  the  city,  and  to  fix  lines  and  boundaries,  in 
April,  1744,  "  Ordered:  That  the  owners  of  the 
houses  between  Mr.  Chambers  and  Mr.  De- 
peysters  corner  house,  by  the  Bowling  Green, 
have  liberty  to  range  their  fronts  in  such 
manner  as  the  Alderman  and  Assistant  of  the 
West  Ward  may  think  proper." '  And  again, 
in  May  of  the  next  year,  they 

"Ordered:  That  a  straight  line  be  drawn 
from  the  south  corner  of  the  house  of  Mr. 
Augustus  Jay,  now  in  the  occupation  of  Peter 
Warren,  Esquire,  to  the  north  Corner  of  the 
house  of  Archibald  Kennedy,  fronting  the 
Bowling  Green  in  the  Broad  Way,  and  that 
Mr.  William  Smith,  who  is  now  about  to 
build  a  house  (and  all  other  persons  who 
shall  build  between  the  two  houses)  lay  their 
foundations  and  build  conformably  to  the 
aforesaid  straight  line." 

The  liberty  given  to  the  owners  of  the 
houses  by  the  ordinance  of  1744,  "to  range 
their  fronts  "  as  might  be  thought  proper,  was 
so  thoroughly  availed  of  that  even  until  the 
present  time,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  af- 
ter, no  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  later 
order  of  1745,  for  the  buildings  pulled  down 
in  1895,  to  make  room  for  the  new  Bowling 
Green  Offices,  were  very  far  from  being  on 


JSowling  Green 


181 


a  line,  and  the  few  buildings  still  remaining  to 
the  north,  towards  Morris  Street,  do  not  even 
yet  front  on  a  straight  line.  A  view  taken  in 
1835,  shows  the  projecting  edges  of  the  houses. 
A  map  of  the  city  in  1695,  shows  that  the 
waters  of  the  North  River  came  beyond  the 
present  eastern  side  of  Greenwich  Street.  A 
later  map  shows  how  the  city  has  been  gradu- 
ally extended,  the  dotted  lines  marking  the 
water-line  at  various  periods. 

In  1723,  the  city  offered  for  sale  the  lands 
between  high  and  low- water  mark,  "from 
the  house  of  Mr.  Gaasbeck  near  the  fort  to  the 
green  trees,  commonly  called  the  locust  trees, 
near  the  English  Church,"10  or  from  the  pres- 
ent Battery  to  Rector  Street.  In  1 729,  it  was 
ordered:  "For  the  better  utility  of  trade  and 
commerce,  and  increasing  the  buildings  within 
the  city,  and  improving  the  revenue  of  the 
corporation,"  that  two  streets  should  be  sur- 
veyed and  laid  out  along  the  Hudson  River, 
one  street  of  forty  feet  in  width  at  high-water 
mark,  and  the  other  of  thirty  feet  in  width  at 
low- water  mark ;  the  high-water  mark  to  be 
the  centre  of  one  street,  and  the  low-water 
mark  to  be  the  centre  of  the  other."  These 
streets  are  the  present  Greenwich  and  Wash- 
ington Streets,  the  former  deriving  its  name 
from  its  being  an  extension  of  a  lane  which 
led  to  Greenwich  Village.  Notwithstanding 
the  "order,"  it  was  some  years  before  any- 


Citg 
Decrees 


182 


Bowling  Green 


leasing 
of  JSovcU 

ing  Green 


thing  was  done  towards  filling  in  the  land  and 
opening  these  streets,  for  on  a  map  as  late  as 
1755,  these  streets  are  not  shown  as  existing 
at  their  southern  end. 

In  March,  1732,  the  then  city  fathers" 
"Resolved,  that  this  Corporation  will  lease 
a  piece  of  land  lying  at  the  lower  end  of  Broad- 
way, fronting  to  the  Fort,  to  some  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  said  Broadway,  in  order  to 
be  inclosed  to  make  a  Bowling-Green  thereof, 
with  walks  therein,  for  the  beauty  and  orna- 
ment of  said  street,  as  well  as  for  the  recrea- 
tion and  delight  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city, 
leaving  the  Street  on  each  side  thereof  50  ft.  in 
breadth." 

Three  public-spirited  and  sport-loving  citi- 
zens, John  Chambers,  Peter  Bayard,  and  Peter 
Jay, — may  their  names  be  placed  upon  the 
roll  of  the  worthy, — hired,  in  accordance  with 
this  resolution,  this  ground,  theretofore  called 
"The  Plaine,"  and  later,  "The  Parade,"  for  a 
term  of  eleven  years,  at  the  enormous  rent  of 
one  peppercorn  per  annum,  and  prepared  it 
for  the  sport  of  bowls.  Let  us  hope  they  did 
not  charge  too  much  per  game  to  recoup  them- 
selves. As  this  lease  neared  its  termination, 
it  was  ordered  that  it  be  renewed  for  eleven 
years,  on  payment  of  twenty  shillings  per  an- 
num, the  lessees  being  John  Chambers,  Colo- 
nel Phillipse,  and  John  Roosevelt.  We  are  not 
told  what  happened  at  the  expiration  of  this 


Bowling  Green 


183 


lease,  whether  they  demanded  a  reduction  of 
rent,  and  failing  to  obtain  it  abandoned  the 
Green,  or  whether  other  sports  became  the  fad 
of  the  ultra-fashionables,  whose  houses  then 
surrounded  the  Green. 

In  a  map  of  1763,  we  find  Greenwich  Street 
has  been  opened,  the  Bowling  Green  being 
then  laid  down  in  the  shape  of  a  triangle. 
The  land  beside  the  Fort,  on  the  east  and 
west  side,  was  anciently  called  "T  Marck- 
velt,"  or  "The  Market-field,"  from  its  vicinity 
to  the  markets  then  held  on  the  "Plaine,"  or 
Bowling  Green.  The  portion  on  the  east  is 
now  Whitehall  Street.  The  name  "  Market- 
field,"  however,  remains  in  connection  with 
the  small  street  originally  running  from  White- 
hall to  Broad,  formerly  called  "Petticoat  Lane," 
a  part  of  which  has  since  been  obliterated  to 
make  room  for  the  present  Produce  Exchange. 
The  name  "Whitehall"  originated  in  a  large 
storehouse  on  the  corner  of  Whitehall  and 
State  Streets,  built  by  Peter  Stuyvesant,  after- 
wards falling  into  the  hands  of  Governor  Don- 
gan,  who  named  it  the  "White  Hall."  This 
subsequently,  for  a  little  while,  became  the 
custom-house  of  the  city,  which  later  was 
moved  to  number  i  Broadway.13 

This  plot  of  land,  i  Broadway,  had  origi- 
nally been  owned  by  a  widow,  Annetje 
Kocks.  In  1760,  Captain  Kennedy,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Cassilis,  built  on  this  corner  a  mansion, 


petticoat 
lane 


1 84 


Bowling  <3reen 


Ube 


ington 

JSutlDiiuj 


which  was  destined  to  be  famous  for  many 
years.  The  garden  in  its  rear  extended  to  the 
Hudson  River.  Captain  Kennedy,  returning  to 
England  prior  to  the  Revolution,  left  the  prop- 
erty to  his  son  Robert,  from  whom  it  passed 
to  the  late  Nathaniel  Prime,  a  leading  banker 
of  the  city.  In  the  spring  of  1776,  General 
Lee,  and  afterward  General  Putnam,  occu- 
pied this  house  as  their  headquarters,  and,  for 
a  time,  Washington.13  During  the  occupancy 
of  the  city  by  the  English,  Sir  Guy  Carleton 
and  other  British  officers  lived  here.  Mr. 
Isaac  Sears,  one  of  the  prominent  "  Liberty 
Boys,"  lived  in  it  subsequent  to  the  Revolu- 
tion. He  was  commonly  called  "King  Sears," 
and  his  daughters  "The  Princesses."  After- 
ward, it  was  taken  by  Mrs.  Graham  for  a 
girls'  school,  and  later  was  known  as  the  best 
boarding-house  in  the  city.  For  many  years 
it  was  called  the  Washington  Inn.  In  1882, 
it  was  torn  down,  and  the  present  struc- 
ture known  as  the  Washington  Building 
was  erected  by  Cyrus  Field,  to  whose  per- 
severance and  skill  was  due  the  laying  of 
the  first  Atlantic  cable.  After  the  land  at 
the  rear  of  these  houses  was  extended,  a  house 
was  built  in  what  had  been  the  garden 
of  the  Kennedy  house,  in  which  Robert 
Fulton,  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  lived 
and  died.  At  number  3  Broadway,  John 
Watts,  one  of  the  Governor's  Council,  lived ; 


Bowling  (3reen  185 

his    daughter    was    the    wife    of   Archibald 

...  j     i4  dregler 

Kennedy.  4 

Next  to  this  was  the  property  of  Martin 
Cregier,  already  referred  to.  This  same  Mar- 
tin Cregier  was  a  notable  citizen.  He  was  by 
turns  an  Indian  trader,  sloop  owner,  and  mas- 
ter. In  1648,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
first  four  Fire  Wardens.  He  commanded  an 
expedition  against  the  Swedes  on  the  Dela- 
ware River,  and,  in  1663,  against  the  Esopus 
Indians.'6  He  was  Captain  of  the  "  Burgh- 
ery,"  or  citizens'  company,  in  all  of  which  oc- 
cupations he  must  have  been  successful,  for, 
in  1659,  we  find  he  built  upon  his  lot  a  tav- 
ern, which  soon  became  a  place  of  fashionable 
resort,  the  Delmonico  or  Waldorf-Astoria  of 
the  time.  Fortune  favored  him,  as  before,  for, 
in  1673,  during  the  temporary  recapture  of  the 
city  by  the  Dutch,  at  a  meeting  of  the  "Val- 
iant Council  of  War,"  an  order  was  passed 
calling  for  the  nomination  of  six  persons  as 
Burgomasters.  "To  wit :  from  the  Wealthi- 
est Inhabitants  and  those  only  who  are  of  the 
Reformed  Christian  Religion."  Cregier,  fulfill- 
ing all  these  requirements,  was  duly  elected, 
further  proving  that  tavern-keeping  was 
equally  prosperous  then  as  now,  and  not  in- 
consistent with  religious  profession.  In  1654, 
we  find  that  a  new  seal  having  been  granted 
to  the  city,  it  was  publicly  delivered  Decem- 
ber 8,  by  the  Director  to  Martin  Cregier,  pre- 


1  86 


JBovvling  Green 


siding  Burgomaster.  (The  salary  of  Burgo- 
master  was  three  hundred  and  fifty  guilders 
— when  it  was  paid!) 18  In  1674,  we  find  him 
superintending  the  fortifications,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  coming  of  the  English  force. 
Whether  his  Dutch  blood  resented  the  final 
capture  of  the  city  by  the  English,  or  whether 
new  and  more  modern  taverns  eclipsed  his 
own  and  took  his  custom,  we  are  not  told; 
but  we  find  that  later  he  abandoned  New 
York,  and  with  his  family  moved  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mohawk,  then  on  the  very  frontiers, 
where  he  died,  in  1713,  nearly  a  century  old. 

As  Cregier's  Tavern  became  old  and  behind 
the  times,  a  new  building  was  erected,  which 
afterward  bore  the  name  of  "King's  Arms 
Tavern,"  and  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
was  tamiliarly  called  "Burns'  Coffee  House." 
It  was  among  the  few  buildings  that  escaped 
the  fires  of  1 776  and  1 845.  As  late  as  1 860,  the 
same  building  was  still  standing,  bearing  the 
title  of  "The  Atlantic  Garden."  This  is  re- 
markable as  being  only  the  second  structure 
to  occupy  the  site  since  the  foundation  of  the 
city.  Almost  until  the  present  time  the  gar- 
den connected  with  this  property  has  fur- 
nished a  place  for  popular  amusement.  In 
Parker's  Post  Boy  of  May  27,  1762,  appears 
the  following  notice : 

"This  is  to  give  Notice,  to  all  Gentlemen 
and  Ladies,  Lovers  and  Encouragers  of  Mu- 


Bowling  Green 


187 


sick.  That  this  day  will  be  opened,  by  Messrs. 
Leonard  &  Dienval,  Musick  Masters,  of  this 
city,  at  Mr.  Burnes'  Room,  near  the  Battery, 
a  public  and  weekly  Concert  of  Musick.  Tick- 
ets, four  shillings." 

"N.  B.  The  concert  is  to  begin  exactly  at 
8  o'clock,  and  end  at  ten,  on  account  of  the 
coolness  of  the  evening.  No  Body  will  be 
admitted  without  tickets,  nor  no  money  will 
be  taken  at  the  door." 

In  the  next  year,  1763,  a  Mrs.  Steel,  who 
had  kept  the  King's  Arms  Tavern  in  Broad 
Street  (the  most  noted  tavern  in  the  city  for 
thirty  years),  removed  to  this  house,  carrying 
with  her  the  name  of  her  old  place.  The  an- 
nouncement is  thus  made  in  the  Post  T$oy : 
"Mrs.  Steel,  Takes  this  method  to  acquaint 
her  Friends  and  Customers,  That  the  King's 
Arms  Tavern,  which  she  formerly  kept  oppo- 
site the  Exchange,  she  hath  now  removed 
into  Broadway  (the  lower  end  opposite  the 
Fort),  a  more  commodious  house,  where  she 
will  not  only  have  it  in  her  power  to  accom- 
modate gentlemen  with  conveniences  requi- 
site as  a  tavern,  but  also,  with  genteel  lodging 
apartments,  which  she  doubts  not  will  give 
satisfaction  to  every  one  who  will  be  pleased 
to  give  her  that  honour." 

Mrs.  Steel's  move  must  have  been  an  unfor- 
tunate one,  for,  in  1765,  we  find  Burns  again  in 
control  (perhaps  he  married  the  widow),  and 


JBurna' 
Coffee 
•fcouse 


1 88 


Green 


Ube 

Stamp 

Bet 


from  then  on  the  place  seems  to  have  been 
known  as  "Burns'  Coffee  House." 

On  October  31,  1765,  a  meeting  of  the  mer- 
chants of  the  city  was  called  at  Burns'  Coffee 
House,  in  order  to  express  their  opposition  to 
the  Stamp  Act.  Here  they  passed  and  signed 
the  first  non-importation  agreement  of  the  col- 
onies. Over  two  hundred  merchants  signed 
the  resolutions,  thus  securing  for  New  York 
the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  sacrifice  its 
commercial  interests  to  the  cause  of  liberty. 
At  this  meeting  a  non-importation  association 
was  also  organized,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  correspond  with  the  other  colo- 
nies, with  a  view  to  the  universal  adoption 
of  similar  measures.  In  the  morning  of  the 
next  day,  November  i,  when  the  Stamp  Act 
was  to  go  into  effect,  handbills  mysteriously 
appeared  throughout  the  city,  forbidding  any 
one,  at  his  peril,  to  use  the  stamped  paper. 

In  the  evening  two  companies,  largely  com- 
posed of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  whose  headquar- 
ters were  at  Burns'  Coffee  House,  appeared  in 
the  streets.  The  first  company  proceeded  to 
the  "fields,"  or  common  (City  Hall  Park), 
where  they  erected  a  gallows  and  suspended 
thereon  an  effigy  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Col- 
den,  with  the  stamped  paper  in  his  hand,  a 
drum  at  his  back,  and  by  his  side  they  hung 
an  effigy  of  the  devil  with  a  boot  in  his  hand. 
The  other  company,  with  another  effigy  of 


Bowling  (Breen 


189 


Golden  seated  in  a  chair,  broke  open  his 
stable,  and  taking  out  his  chariot  placed  the 
effigy  in  it,  and  then,  joining  the  other  com- 
pany, both  proceeded  to  the  fort,  strictest 
orders  having  been  given  that  not  a  word 
should  be  spoken  or  a  stone  thrown.  On  ar- 
riving at  the  Bowling  Green,  they  found  the 
soldiers  drawn  up  on  the  ramparts  of  the 
fort,  and  the  muzzles  of  the  cannon  pointed 
toward  them.  General  Gage,  who  was  then 
the  British  commander,  prudently  refrained 
from  firing  upon  the  mob,  knowing  well  that 
the  first  volley  would  be  followed  by  the 
instant  destruction  of  the  Fort.  The  people 
having  been  refused  admission  to  the  Fort, 
tore  down  the  wooden  fence  about  the  Bowl- 
ing Green,  kindled  a  fire  there,  and  burned 
the  carriage,  gallows,  effigies,  and  all. 

The  odious  Stamp  Act  was  finally  repealed 
on  February  20,  1766.  This  action  of  the 
ministry  was  received  with  the  wildest  en- 
thusiasm. The  whole  city  was  illuminated, 
special  bonfires  being  kindled  on  the  Bowling 
Green.  For  a  time  this  action  of  the  home 
government  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
populace,  and  on  June  23,  another  meeting 
was  held  at  Burns'  Coffee  House,  petitioning 
the  Assembly  to  erect  a  statue  in  honor  of 
William  Pitt,  and  also  an  equestrian  statue  of 
George  the  Third.  On  August  21,  1770,  the 
statue  of  George  the  Third  having  arrived 


Statue  of 

George  the 
CbtrS 


190 


^Bowling  (Breen 


Bcstrucs 

t ion  of  tbe 

Statue 


from  England,  it  was  placed  in  the  centre  of 
Bowling  Green  amid  the  general  acclamation 
of  the  people.  In  November,  it  was  ordered 
''That  a  temporary  fence  be  forthwith  made 
around  the  Bowling  Green,  of  posts  and  rails 
not  to  exceed  five  rails  high."  The  following 
year,  1771,  it  was  ordered:  "Whereas  the 
General  Assembly  of  this  Province  have  been 
at  the  great  expense  of  sending  for  an  eques- 
trian statue  of  his  present  majesty  [George 
III.],  and  erected  the  same  on  the  Bowling 
Green,  before  his  majesty's  fort  in  this  city, 
and  this  Board,  conceiving,  that  unless  the 
said  Green  be  fenced  in,  the  same  will  very 
soon  became  a  receptacle  for  all  the  filth  and 
dirt  of  the  neighborhood,  in  order  to  prevent 
which,  it  is  ordered  that  the  same  be  fenced 
with  iron  rails,  in  a  stone  foundation,  at  an 
expense  of  ;£8oo."  This  fence  and  the  orig- 
inal stones  still  surround  the  Green,  the  crowns 
which  originally  ornamented  the  tops  of  the 
pillars  having  been  broken  off. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  to 
celebrate  the  news  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, this  statue  was  dragged  from  its 
pedestal,  and  drawn  through  the  streets.  It 
was  then  sent  to  Litchfield,  the  residence  of 
Oliver  Wolcott,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  by 
whose  wife  and  daughter  it  was  run  into 
42,000  bullets,  "to  assimilate  with  the  brains 
of  the  adversary."  Subsequently,  during  the 


JSowling  (Breen 


191 


invasion  of  Connecticut  by  Governor  Tryon, 
over  four  hundred  British  soldiers  were  killed, 
probably  by  this  very  lead.  The  pedestal  of 
the  statue  remained  standing  for  some  time 
longer,  as  is  shown  in  a  contemporaneous 
print  of  the  Bowling  Green  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution. 

On  August  26,  1776,  the  city  was  captured 
by  the  English.  Shortly  after  the  occupancy 
of  the  British  a  great  fire  occurred,  destroying 
four  hundred  and  ninety-two  houses,  nearly 
one  eighth  of  the  entire  city.  The  houses 
at  the  lower  end  of  Broadway,  facing  Bowling 
Green  on  the  west  side,  were  saved. 

The  Green  again  welcomed  the  joyous  and 
exultant  crowds  who  there  gathered  to  see  the 
final  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British  on 
November  25,  1783.  Before  leaving,  the 
English  had  nailed  their  defeated  colors  to  the 
flag-pole  which  stood  near,  and  in  the  hope  of 
preventing  the  immediate  raising  of  the  stars 
and  stripes,  had  thoroughly  greased  the  pole. 
Captain  John  Van  Arsdale,  however,  quickly 
managed  to  climb  the  pole,  and  in  sight  of  the 
departing  troops  flung  our  flag  to  the  breeze. 
Ever  since  then  it  has  been  the  custom  for  one 
of  his  descendants,  on  the  morning  of  Evacua- 
tion Day,  to  raise  the  flag  on  the  present  lib- 
erty pole  in  the  park. 

A  map  of  Brooklyn,  drawn  by  General 
Jeremiah  Johnson  about  this  time,  is  curious, 


tion  of  tbe 
Cftie  bs 

tbe  Kelts 
lab 


192 


Bowling  Green 


fowling 

©rccn 


Cbatts 
cellor 

livtngston 


as  indicating  a  fact  which  probably  is  unknown 
to  most  New  Yorkers :  that  Governor's  Island 
was  at  one  time  used  as  a  race-track. 

On  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  by 
the  State  of  New  York,  the  event  was  cele- 
brated by  a  "wonderful"  procession,  which 
was  reviewed  by  Washington  and  other  nota- 
bles, from  the  ramparts  of  the  Fort,  as  it  cir- 
cled around  the  Bowling  Green.  One  of  the 
principal  floats  in  this  procession  was  an  enor- 
mous ship  named  Hamilton,  which  at  the 
close  of  the  procession  was  deposited  in  the 
Green.  This  required,  in  1789,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  "to  remove  the  Federal 
Ship  out  of  the  Bowling  Green,  to  have  the 
fence  repaired,  and  to  let  out  the  Bowling 
Green." 

Three  years  before  this,  in  1786,  there  is  re- 
corded a  request  of  Mr.  Daniel  Ludlow. 

"That  he  may  be  permitted  to  have  the 
care  and  use  of  the  Bowling  Green,  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  Broad  Way,  for  two  years,  he 
being  willing,  at  his  own  expense,  to  manure 
the  ground,  and  sow  the  same  with  proper 
grass  seed,  and  have  it  well  laid  down  as  a 
green ;  and  a  request  of  Mr.  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston, that  the  direction  and  use  of  the  said 
Bowling  Green  may  be  granted  to  him,  were 
respectively  read.  Ordered,  That  the  direc- 
tion and  use  of  the  said  Bowling  Green,  be 
granted  to  Mr.  Chancellor  Livingston,  on  the 


Bowling  Green 


'93 


terms  offered  by  Mr.  Ludlow."  Evidently, 
Mr.  Chancellor  Livingston  had  "a  pull." 

In  1791,  the  street  committee  reported 
"  That  in  their  opinion  the  Bowling  Green, 
in  front  of  the  Government  House,  ought  to 
be  preserved,  and  that  it  will  be  necessary  the 
fence  should  be  raised  in  proportion  to  the  reg- 
ulation of  Broadway.  Agreed  to."  In  1795, 
it  was  "Ordered, — that  the  inclosed  ground, 
commonly  called  the  Bowling  Green,  in  front 
of  the  Government  House,  be  appropriated  to 
the  use  of  the  Governor,  for  the  time  being." 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  had  been  thus 
set  aside  for  the  use  of  the  Governor,  in  this 
same  year,  on  July  18,  the  sanctity  of  the  Green 
was  invaded  by  a  tumultuous  crowd  of  citizens 
who  had  just  held  a  public  meeting  to  express 
their  opposition  to  the  treaty  with  England, 
which  had  recently  been  concluded  by  John 
Jay.  At  this  meeting,  which  had  been  ad- 
dressed by  Aaron  Burr  and  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston, some  one  moved  that  they  should 
adjourn  to  the  Bowling  Green  and  burn  the 
treaty.  This  was  done,  the  band  playing 
the  "Carmagnole," — the  French  and  American 
flags  being  bound  together, — the  treaty  having 
been  considered  by  many  as  a  repudiation  of 
our  indebtedness  to  France. 

The  Governor  did  not  seem  to  appreciate  the 
advantages  of  the  Bowling  Green,  or  perhaps 
he  was  not  able  to  preserve  its  privacy,  for,  in 


Ube 

Grccti 

Set  asifcc 

for  tbe  "Use 

of  the 
Governor 


194 


Bowling  (Sreen 


S>estruc= 
tion  of  tbe 
fort 


1798,  we  find  that  it  was  ordered  "That  Mr. 
John  Rogers  may  have  the  use  of  the  Bowling 
Green,  on  condition  that  he  keep  it  in  good 
order,  and  suffer  no  creatures  to  run  in  it." 

In  a  map  of  1797,  the  Bowling  Green  has 
assumed  its  present  shape,  the  fort  has  dis- 
appeared, the  Government  House,  above  re- 
ferred to,  occupying  its  site,  the  Battery  has 
been  extended,  but  even  yet  the  "order" 
given  seventy  years  before  for  the  laying  out 
of  additional  streets,  had  not  been  complied 
with  except  as  to  Greenwich  Street,  showing 
that  municipal  progress  was  not  much  more 
rapid  at  that  time  than  now.  The  destruction 
of  the  Fort  seems  to  have  been  determined 
upon  in  1789,  when,  by  act  of  the  Legislature, 
"  The  ground  at  the  Fort  and  the  Battery  was 
reserved  for  the  public  use  and  for  continuing 
the  Broad  Way  through  to  the  river."  This 
last  was  never  done. 

In  1790,  it  was  "Ordered,  that  Messrs.  Tor- 
boss,  Van  Zant  and  George  Janeway,  be  ap- 
pointed commissioners  to  superintend  the 
taking  down  the  stone  and  removing  the 
earth  of  the  Fort."  The  earth  thus  removed 
was  used  to  enlarge  the  area  of  the  Battery 
"from  Eli's  corner  to  the  Flat  Rock."  When 
the  Fort  was  torn  down,  a  vault,  which  had 
been  sealed  up  under  the  chapel,  was  uncov- 
ered. In  this  were  the  remains  of  Lord  Bella- 
mont,  members  of  his  family,  and  some  others. 


195 


Lord  Bellamont's  family  was  distinguished  by 
the  silver  plates  bearing  the  family  escutcheon, 
let  into  the  lead  coffins.  The  coffins  and  bones 
were  buried  in  an  unmarked  grave  in  St.  Paul's 
churchyard.  Mr.  Van  Zant,  one  of  the  com- 
missioners, secured  the  silver  plates,  intending 
to  preserve  them,  but  after  his  death  they  were 
converted  into  spoons. 

The  Battery,  which  has  retained  nothing 
whatever  suggestive  of  its  warlike  origin  ex- 
cept the  name,  owes  its  beginning  to  the  fol- 
lowing order.  In  1693,  the  then  Governor 
made  the  following  proclamation : 1T 

"Whereas  there  is  actual  warr  between 
our  Sovereign  Lord  and  Lady  the  King  and 
Queen,  and  the  French  King;  and  I  am  in- 
formed of  a  Squadron  of  Ships  and  land 
forces,  intended  from  France  to  invade  this 
Citty  and  Province  ;  and  whereas,  for  the 
safety  and  preservation  thereof,  I  fmde  itt  of 
absolute  necessity  to  make  a  platforme  upon 
the  outmost  pointe  of  rocks  under  the  Fort, 
whereon  I  intend  to  build  a  battery  to  com- 
mand both  rivers;  I  have  therefore  thought 
fitte,  and  doe  hereby  require  you,  the  Mayor, 
Recorder  and  Aldermen  of  the  Citty  of  New 
York  and  Manning  and  Barnes  Island,  to  cut 
down  86  cordes  of  stockades,  of  12  feet  in 
length,  and  to  have  them  in  readiness  to  be 
conveyed  to  New  York. 

(Signed)  "BENJ.  FLETCHER." 


Origin  of 
tbe 

UGattcn: 


196 


fowling  areen 


Ube 
Cattert 


The  rocks  upon  which  the  Battery  was  built 
were  called  Capske  Rocks.  These  works  were 
then  known  as  the  Whitehall  Battery,  and 
from  this  time  on,  until  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  various  additions  were  made 
thereto,  and  later,  somewhere  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century,  there  was 
built  what  was  known  as  the  Southwest  Bat- 
tery, some  three  hundred  feet  or  more  from 
the  shore,  the  approach  to  which  was  by 
means  of  a  bridge  with  a  draw.  This  later 
was  called  "Castle  Clinton."  In  the  year 
1822,  upon  the  Federal  government  taking 
possession  of  Governor's  Island,  Castle  Clin- 
ton was  ceded  to  the  city.  It  was  then  pro- 
posed that  this  and  the  former  Battery,  and 
the  grounds  included  between,  should  be 
made  into  a  public  park,  Castle  Clinton  being 
turned  into  a  public  assembly-room,  and 
called  Castle  Garden,  afterwards  to  be  made 
famous  by  Jenny  Lind's  first  concert,  Septem- 
ber 12,  1850. 

On  Lafayette's  return  to  America,  in  1824, 
"a  splendid  fete  and  gala  was  given  to  him 
at  Castle  Garden,  on  September  14,  which  for 
grandeur,  expense,  and  entire  effect  was 
never  before  witnessed  in  this  country.  About 
six  thousand  persons  were  assembled  in  that 
immense  area,  and  the  evening  being  clear  and 
calm,  the  whole  passed  off  happily,  owing  to 
the  excellent  arrangements  of  the  committee."" 


(Breen 


197 


On  December  5,  1851,  the  Hungarian  hero, 
Louis  Kossuth,  arrived,  and  was  received  at 
Castle  Garden,  after  which  he  was  escorted 
to  his  hotel  by  a  procession,  which  for  years 
was  famous  for  its  size  and  enthusiasm.  For 
nearly  forty  years,  beginning  in  1855,  this 
building  was  used  as  the  emigrants'  landing- 
place  and  depot,  and  later  was  transformed 
into  a  public  aquarium. 

For  many  years  the  Battery  was  the  city's 
parade-ground.  Here,  in  the  heyday  of  their 
popularity,  the  Pulaski  Cadets,  the  Light 
Guard,  the  red-coated  City  Guards,  and  the 
Tompkins  Blues  went  through  their  elaborate 
manoeuvres,  before  the  admiring  gaze  of  the 
citizens  grouped  in  surrounding  windows  and 
on  the  walks.  Here,  also,  the  Blue  Stockings 
and  the  Red  Stockings  vied  for  championship 
in  the  national  game. 

In  his  Diary,  Philip  Hone  writes: 

"  *April  15,  1834. — This  was  the  day  of  the 
Great  Fete  at  Castle  Garden,  to  celebrate  the 
triumph  gained  by  the  Whig  Party  in  the  late 
Charter  election  in  this  city,  and  it  went  off 
gloriously.  Tables  were  spread  in  a  double 
row  within  the  outer  circumference.  Three 
pipes  of  wine  and  40  barrels  of  beer  were 
placed  in  the  centre  under  an  awning,  and 
served  out  during  the  repast."  " 

"Monday,  October  the  2jth,  1834. — The 
Jackson  men  marched  down  to  Castle  Garden, 


Castle 

GarScn 


198 


JSowltng  0reen 


where  a  feast  (not  of  reason)  was  prepared,  and 
a  flow  Of  whiskey  (not  of  soul)  was  served  out 
gratuitously  to  the  well  drilled  troops  of  the 
Regency.  They  fired  guns  and  exhibited  fire 
works,  and  all  in  the  way  of  rejoicing  for  vic- 
tories not  won,  or  rather  '  to  keep  their  spirits 
up  by  pouring  spirits  down.'  "  " 

"*AprUthe  loth,  1835.  —  The  weather  being 
fine  and  spring-like,  I  walked  for  an  hour  with 
my  wife  on  the  battery.  Strange  as  it  is,  I  do 
not  think  that  either  of  us  had  done  such  a  thing 
in  the  last  seven  years,  and  what  a  wonderful 
spot  it  is.  The  grounds  are  in  fine  order.  The 
noble  bay,  with  the  opposite  shores  of  New 
Jersey,  Staten  and  Long  Islands,  vessels  of 
every  description,  from  the  noble,  well-ap- 
pointed Liverpool  packet,  to  the  little  market 
craft  and  steamers  arriving  from  every  point, 
give  life  and  animation  to  a  prospect  unex- 
celled by  any  city  in  the  world.  It  would  be 
well  worth  travelling  100  miles  out  of  one's 
way  in  a  foreign  country  to  get  a  sight  of, 
and  yet  we  citizens  of  New  York,  who  have 
it  all  under  our  noses  seldom  enjoy  it.  Like 
all  other  enjoyments,  it  loses  its  value  from 
being  too  easily  obtained."  SI 

In  a  very  rare  book  of  letters,  written  in 
1793,  by  Governor  Drayton,  of  Carolina,  he 
writes:  "At  the  lower  end  of  Broadway  is 
the  Battery,  and  public  parade:  .  .  .  be- 
tween the  guns  and  the  water  is  a  public 


Bowling  Green 


i99 


walk,  made  by  a  gentle  decline  from  the  plat- 
form; .  .  .  some  little  distance  behind 
the  guns  two  rows  of  elm  trees  are  planted; 
which  in  a  short  time  will  afford  an  agreeable 
shade;  .  .  .  the  back  part  of  the  ground 
is  laid  out  in  smaller  walks,  terraces,  and  a 
bowling  green." 

''Overlooking  this  prospect,  is  the  Govern- 
ment House;  plac'd  upon  an  handsome  eleva- 
tion, and  fronting  Broadway,  having  before  it 
an  elegant  elliptical  approach,  round  an  area  of 
near  an  acre  of  ground,  enclosed  by  an  iron  rail- 
ing. In  the  midst  of  this  is  a  pedastal,  which  for- 
merly was  pressed  by  a  leaden  equestrian  statue 
of  the  King  of  Great  Britain;  but  having  been 
dismantled  of  that,  for  the  use  of  the  continen- 
tal army,  it  now  remains  ready,  in  due  time  I 
hope,  to  receive  the  statue  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  When  that  pe- 
riod shall  arrive,  in  addition  to  the  many  daily 
occurrences  which  lead  the  mind  of  the  pas- 
senger to  pensive  reflection;  this  monument 
of  his  country's  gratitude  shall  call  his  atten- 
tion ;  and  while  deeds  of  former  times,  shall 
pass  in  sweet  review  before  him,  the  tear 
shall  lament  the  loss  of  an  hero — but  the  heart 
collected  within  itself,  shall  urge  him  by  so 
bright  an  example,  to  call  forth  his  powers 
and  to  pursue  the  steps  of  virtue  and  of 
honor." 

"  The  Government  House  is  two 


Ube 
JBatten? 


2OO 


Bowling  (3reen 


Governs 
ment 

t)OU=C 


stories  high.  Projecting  before  it  is  a  portico, 
covered  by  a  pediment;  upon  which  is  su- 
perbly carved  in  basso  relievo,  the  arms  of 
the  State,  supported  by  justice  and  liberty,  as 
large  as  life.  The  arms  and  figures  are  white, 
placed  in  a  blue  field;  and  the  pediment  is 
supported  by  four  white  pillars  of  the  Ionic 
order,  which  are  the  height  of  both  stories." 

The  Government  House  herein  referred  to 
was  built  upon  a  part  of  the  land  occupied  by 
the  Fort.  As  we  have  already  seen,  it  was  in 
1 790  that  the  Fort  was  taken  down,  and  shortly 
afterward  this  house  was  erected  for  the  use 
of  Washington.  Afterward,  Governors  Clinton 
and  Jay  both  lived  in  it,  and  at  one  time  it  was 
used  as  a  Custom-House.aa 

We  can  find  no  record  showing  when  the 
Fort  and  the  adjacent  land  passed  from  under 
the  control  of  the  City  to  that  of  the  Province, 
and  thence  to  the  State.  It  was  by  an  act  of 
the  Legislature,  not  of  the  City  Council,  that,  in 
1790,  the  Fort  was  destroyed  and  the  Govern- 
ment House  built.  On  May  26,  1812,  an  act 
was  passed: 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and  As- 
sembly, that  the  Comptroller  is  hereby  author- 
ized to  sell  and  convey  in  fee  simple,  all  the 
right,  title  and  interest  of  the  people  of  this 
state  in  and  to  the  Government  House  and  the 
grounds  adjoining,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 


fowling  Green 


201 


to  the  mayor,  aldermen  and  commonalty  of 
the  said  city,  for  a  sum  not  less  than  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  to  receive  in  payment 
therefor,  the  bond  of  the  said  mayor,  alder- 
men and  commonalty,  payable  in  ten  years, 
with  interest  annually,  at  the  rate  of  six  per 
centum: 

'"Provided  always,  That  the  said  corpora- 
tion shall  not  have  the  right  of  selling  the  said 
grounds  for  the  erection  of  private  buildings, 
or  other  individual  purposes." 

The  city  authorities  evidently  did  not  pro- 
pose to  be  limited  in  their  rights,  nor  to  pay  a 
round  sum  of  money  for  land  which  they  could 
not  realize  upon,  however  cheap  it  might  seem. 
They  refused  to  avail  themselves  of  the  option 
to  purchase,  so  on  April  13,  1813,  another  act 
was  passed:  "  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the 
proviso  to  the  enacting  clause  of  the  act  enti- 
tled '  An  act  to  authorize  the  sale  of  certain 
public  property  in  the  city  of  New  York,' 
passed  the  26th  of  May  1812,  be  and  the  same 
is  hereby  repealed,  and  that  if  the  mayor,  al- 
dermen and  commonalty  of  New  York  shall 
not,  by  the  first  day  of  November  next,  pur- 
chase the  Government  House  and  lands  ad- 
joining, then  the  authority  given  to  the 
comptroller  in  and  by  said  act  to  sell  the 
said  house  and  land  shall  cease." 

This  threat  seems  to  have  supplied  the  nec- 
essary fillip,  and  suggested  a  chance  for  specu- 


(Bovecns 
ment 
fttuee 


fowling  (Breen 


Sale  of 

tbc 
Governs 

ment 

t>OU5C 


lation,  for  under  date  of  August  2,  1813,  the 
Comptroller  of  the  State  "conveyed  to  the 
said  Mayor,  &c.,  all  the  certain  messuage  and 
lot  of  ground  situate  in  the  First  Ward  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  commonly  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Government  House  and  lot.  Sub- 
ject to  a  lease  of  the  Government  House  to 
DeWitt  Clinton  and  others,  made  pursuant  to 
section  34  of  the  act  of  29  March,  1809,  which 
does  not  expire  until  the  ist  of  May,  1815." 
As  soon  as  the  lease  expired,  the  city  hastened 
to  "bag  its  profit,"  selling  the  land  and  giving 
title  thereto  on  June  19,  1815,  for  about  double 
what  they  were  under  bond  to  pay,  and  before 
they  had  paid  out  anything  whatever.  Some 
time  during  this  year  the  Government  House 
is  said  to  have  been  destroyed  by  fire. 

The  land  facing  on  the  Green  was  sold  in 
seven  parcels  or  lots,  each  being  about  thirty- 
one  feet  front  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet 
in  depth,  except  the  one  on  the  northeast,  at 
the  corner  of  Whitehall  Street,  which  was  only 
four  feet  on  the  front  and  twenty-three  feet 
wide  in  the  rear.  The  original  grantees  were : 

Lot  i.     (Northwest  corner.) 

Deeded  to  Noah  Brown. 
1825  to  1 86 1,    owned  by  Stephen  Whitney. 
1888  "  present,    "      "  U.  S.  Trust  Company. 

Lot.  2.     Deeded  to  Abijah  Weston. 
1834  to  1887,     owned  by  Elisha  Riggs. 
1887  "  present,     "        "  J.  L.  Cadwalader. 


Bowling  (Breen 


203 


Lot  3.     Deeded  to  Elbert  Anderson. 
1821  to  1829,     owned  by  Samuel  Ward,  Jr. 
1829  "  1853,         "        "   Andrew  Foster. 
1854  "  present,    "        "  Cornelius   Vander- 
bilt,  et  al. 

Lot  4.     Deeded  to  Elbert  Anderson. 
1823  to  1829,  owned  by  Herman  Le  Roy. 
1829  "  1852,       "        "  Lewis  Curtis. 
1862  "  present,  "        "A.  Hemenway,  etal., 
trustees,  etc. 

Lot  5.     Deeded  to  James  Byers. 
1838  to  1883,     owned  by  Ferdinand  Suydam, 

et  al.,  trustees,  etc. 

1883  to  present,  owned  by  Theodore  Chiches- 
ter. 

Lot  6.     Deeded  to  Peter  Remsen. 
184010  1855,     owned  by  W.  E.  Wilmerding. 
1871   "present,     "       "  Herman  C.  Von  Post. 

Lot  7.     (Northeast  corner.) 
Deeded  to  John  Hone. 

Hone  was  the  only  original  owner  who  re- 
tained his  lot  more  than  a  year  or  so.  He 
sold  it  in  1860  to  W.  B.  Cooper,  in  whose  fam- 
ily it  still  remains. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  the  city,  when  the 
Governor  lived  within  the  Fort,  later,  when 
the  Government  House  occupied  this  same 
site,  and  afterwards,  when  this  land  became 
private  property,  this  locality,  and  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood,  was  the  most  select  and 
fashionable  part  of  the  city.  As  the  natural 


Original 
Grantees 


204  ^Bowling  Green 

•steam,     growth  of  the  city  and  the  encroachment  of 
Jb(p,.       business  drove  private  residences  farther  and 

•ROW  r 

farther  northward,  this  particular  row  of 
houses  facing  the  Green  preserved  their  in- 
dividual characteristics,  and  were  used  as 
dwellings.  They  still  retain  their  exterior  ap- 
pearance, though  they  have  ceased  to  be  so 
used.  They  are  now  occupied  by  the  offices 
of  the  large  foreign  steamship  companies, 
which  has  given  them  the  name  of  "Steam- 
ship Row."  Some  years  ago  it  was  ordered 
by  Congress  that  this  land  should  be  bought 
and  the  United  States  Custom-House  be  built 
here.  Opposition  and  litigation  have  until 
now  prevented,  but  at  last  it  seems  likely  that 
this  project  will  be  accomplished,  and  this 
land,  which  had  always  been  public  property 
until  1815,  and  upon  which  the  old  Custom- 
House  had  been  for  a  time,  will  again  become 
the  property  of  the  public,  and  in  place  of  a 
Fort — emblem  of  strife  and  distrust  among  na- 
tions— a  Custom-House,  suggestive  of  peaceful 
intercourse  and  friendly  commerce,  will  be 
built,  worthy  of  the  nation  and  of  the  city. 

The  land  on  the  east  of  the  Green,  where 
the  Produce  Exchange  now  stands,  was  first 
granted  to  individuals  about  1646.  Among 
the  first  owners  were  Jonas  Barteltzen  and 
Frerick  Arenzen.  The  latter  owned  the  land  on 
the  southwest  corner  of  Whitehall  and  what 
was  then  Marketfield  Streets.  Allard  Anthony, 


fowling  (Breen 


205 


one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  his  day, 
lived  on  the  opposite  corner.  Roelof  Jansen 
Haas  owned  the  land  to  the  corner  of  Beaver 
Street."  The  southern  portion  of  the  Produce 
Exchange  land  was  forfeited  to  the  people  of 
the  State  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  by  the 
attainders  of  Beverly  Robinson  and  Frederick 
Philipse.  The  Legislature,  on  May  12,  1784, 
passed  "An  Act  for  the  speedy  sale  of  the 
confiscated  and  forfeited  estates  within  this 
State."  Isaac  Stoutenburg  and  Philip  Van 
Cortlandt,  the  commissioners  appointed  under 
this  act,  sold  the  land.  In  1880,  the  Legislature 
passed  a  special  act  authorizing  the  closing 
up  of  Marketfield  Street,  and  deeding  it  to  the 
Produce  Exchange. 

We  have  already  referred  to  some  of  the 
earlier  occupants  of  the  properties  now  known 
as  numbers  I  to  1 1  Broadway.  In  the  house 
standing  on  what  is  now  9  Broadway,  Bene- 
dict Arnold,  after  the  capture  of  Andre  and  the 
exposure  of  his  treachery,  had  his  quarters." 
It  was  while  here  that  Sergeant  John  Champe 
attempted  to  capture  him.  The  garden  at  the 
rear  of  the  house  sloped  down  to  the  river, 
and  a  party  of  patriots  were  to  land  here  from 
a  boat,  and,  having  secured,  carry  him  away. 
The  very  day  of  the  attempt  Arnold  moved  his 
quarters,  it  was  never  known  whether  simply 
by  accident,  or  from  disclosure  of  the  plot. 
Washington  Irving  lived  around  the  corner, 


proMicc 
JEi'cbamje 


206 


Oreeu 


dbanges 

arounJ 

tbc  (Breen 


on  State  Street,  and  near  him  Mr.  Howland, 
long  one  of  the  most  prominent  shipping- 
merchants  of  the  city."  James  K.  Paulding, 
a  descendant  of  one  of  the  captors  of  Major 
Andre,  and  who  afterward  became  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  under  Van  Buren,  one  of  the  au- 
thors of  Salmagundi,  lived  on  the  same  block, 
at  29  Whitehall  Street. 

While  all  these  changes  have  been  going 
on  around  it,  the  Green  has  quietly,  and  with 
the  proud  conservatism  of  age,  preserved  its 
own  dignified  existence.  Always  ready  to 
give  itself  to  the  public,  whether  for  play  or 
rest,  in  peace  or  war,  it  has  been  the  centre 
of  the  busy  life  of  the  village,  of  the  fashion- 
able life  of  the  town,  and  now  of  the  com- 
mercial activity  of  the  city.  The  Produce 
Exchange,  controlling  the  grain  trade  of  a  con- 
tinent, looks  down  upon  it.  The  offices  of 
the  largest  steamship  companies  of  the  world 
surround  it.  The  Custom-House,  registering 
the  commerce  of  the  Western  Hemisphere, 
will  face  it.  Some  of  the  greatest  modern 
office  buildings,  overtopping  the  spire  of  "Old 
Trinity,"  hem  it  in.  Broadway,  the  longest 
street  in  the  world,  starts  from  its  oval.  In 
this  year  of  grace,  1898,  New  York  has  greatly 
enlarged  its  borders ;  the  city  of  Brooklyn 
and  many  of  the  surrounding  townships  hav- 
ing united  in  the  one  city  now  called  colloqui- 
ally ' '  Greater  New  York. "  Of  this  new  city  our 


Bowling  0reen 


207 


little  friend,  the  Bowling  Green,  has  become 
the  heart.  It  is  the  geographical  centre  of  the 
enlarged  metropolis. 


Changes 

around 

tbe  Orcen 


208 


6reen 


•(References 


i. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
1  1  . 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
1  8. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 


REFERENCES. 

PETER  FAUCONNIER'S  Survey  Book,  1715-34. 
Documents  relating  to  Colonial  History  of  New  York 

(edited  by  E.  B.  O'Callaghan),  i.,  p.  74. 
BOOTH'S  History  of  New  York,  p.  122. 
Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  i.,  p.  65. 
Ibid.,  i.,  p.  90. 


VALENTINE'S  History,  p.  161. 

VALENTINE'S  Manual,  1857,  p.  498. 

English  Records. 

VALENTINE'S  History,  p.  287. 

English  Records. 

VALENTINE'S  History,  p.  285. 

BOOTH'S  History,  p.  490. 

LAMB'S  History,  p.  98. 

VALENTINE'S  History,  p.  98. 

VALENTINE'S  Manual,  1856,  p.  381. 

English  Records,  1693. 

VALENTINE'S  Manual,  1853,  p.  467. 

PHILIP  HONE'S  Diary,  p.  101. 

Ibid.,  p.  115. 

7foW.,  p.  137. 

WASHINGTON  IRVING,  Salmagundi,  p.  319.  N.  Y.,  1897. 

VALENTINE'S  History,  pp.  96,  127. 

BOOTH'S  History,  p.  562. 

WILSON'S  History  of  New  York,  1893. 


NEW  AMSTERDAM  FAMILY  NAMES 
AND  THEIR  ORIGIN 


209 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  VI. 


NEW  AMSTERDAM  FAMILY  NAMES 
AND  THEIR  ORIGIN. 


w 


BY  BERTHOLD  FERNOW. 

HAT'S  in  a  name?"  and  "That 
which  we  call  a  rose,  by  any 
other  name  would  smell  as  sweet,"  said 
Shakespeare,  three  hundred  years  ago,  mats 
nous  avons  change"  tout  cela,  and  to-day  we  are 
more  or  less  proud  of  the  name  derived  from 
our  forefathers,  no  matter  how  it  was  first 
acquired. 

The  study  of  proper  names  of  persons  and 
places  is  not  only  a  matter  of  curious  interest, 
but  also  of  some  historical  importance,  when 
we  look  into  the  names  of  the  people  who 
were  the  first  settlers  of  New  Netherland. 
For  in  many  cases  we  learn  thereby  where 
they  came  from,  although,  to  a  great  extent, 
they  were  not  far  above  the  savages,  whose 
system  of  nomenclature  was  only  changed 
by  the  rite  of  Christian  baptism,  giving  each 
child  a  permanent  "  call-name,"  to  which  the 


nomen- 
clature in 

Greece 
and 

1Rome 


Bmsterfcam  Jfamils  IRames 


choice  father's  name  was  added.  This  did  away 
n*meB  w^  ^e  C^an8e  °f  appellation  which  took 
place  in,  say,  a  Mohawk  Indian's  name  at  dif- 
ferent periods  of  his  life.  Born  on  a  stormy 
day,  the  babe  would  be  called  "Lightning," 
or  "Thunder,"  or  "Rain,"  and  the  boy  was 
known  as  such  until  he  accomplished  his  first 
daring  feat  in  the  hunting-field  or  the  chase, 
by  which  he  possibly  acquired  the  name  of 
"Cinnamon  Bear,"  because  he  had  killed  one. 
Then  he  went  out  as  a  warrior,  killed  and 
scalped  a  noted  enemy,  and  was  henceforth, 
to  the  end  of  his  life,  known  as  "He  who 
scalped  Tom  Noddy."  To  all  was  added  the 
totem  name, — the  name  of  the  clan  to  which 
the  youth  belonged, — in  reality  a  family  name, 
to  wit,  the  Bear,  the  Turtle,  the  Wolf,  etc. 
We  find  something  similar  in  the  Greece  and 
Rome  of  antiquity,  after  social  institutions 
had  become  so  permanent  that  male  kinship 
and  paternity  were  recognized,  for  then  the 
custom  of  patronymics,  differing  from  the 
Mohawk  totem  only  by  not  being  tattooed 
on  the  bearer's  breast,  was  introduced.  The 
totem  name  became  a  gentile  name,  and  in 
Greece  gave  place  to  a  local  one,  derived  from 
the  "  SrfW  " :  thus,  a  Greek  is  called  Thukyd- 
ides,  a  name  given  him  after  his  grandfather; 
he  is  the  son  of  Olorus  of  the  deme  of  Hali- 
musia;  while  a  Roman  has  received  at  his 
birth  the  name  of  Marcus,  he  belongs  to  the 


IRew  Bmstertam  jfamils  flames 


213 


Tullian  clan,  and  is  therefore  entitled  to  the 
name  of  Tullius;  and  because  he  requires  a 
special  designation,  to  distinguish  him  from 
a  cousin  or  uncle,  he  becomes  known  as  Cic- 
ero, from  the  large  pea-shaped  wart  on  his 
nose. 

This  system  of  nomenclature  answered  the 
purposes  of  Greek  and  Roman  civilization. 
Among  the  Teutonic  races,  the  earliest  and 
most  widely  spread  class  and  family  names 
were  totemistic,  and  frequently  derived  from 
animals  and  plants.  This  tendency  to  use 
the  objects  surrounding  man  or  his  favorite 
occupation  in  the  choice  of  a  name  is  inherent 
in  the  human  race.  Up  to  the  first  quarter 
of  this  century  the  Jews  in  Prussia  observed 
the  biblical  way  of  calling  themselves  Isaac, 
the  son  of  Abraham,  or  Abrahamson,  and 
Isaac's  son  Moses  became  Moses  Isaacson,  so 
that  great  confusion,  especially  in  legal  cases, 
occurred ;  to  obviate  this  the  government  or- 
dered them  to  adopt  permanent  family  names. 
Then,  as  a  sarcastic  old  gentlemen  of  the  writ- 
er's acquaintance  used  to  say,  "the  character- 
istics of  the  men  came  out":  the  poetically 
inclined  called  themselves  after  flowers,  as 
Lilienthal,  Rosenthal,  Rosenberg  (dale  of  lilies, 
of  roses,  hill  of  roses)  ;  the  ferocious  took  the 
name  of  wild  beasts,  as  Wolf,  Bear,  Fox,  com- 
bining them  also  with  the  dale  or  hill  or  stone, 
whence  we  have  the  names  Loewenthal, 


Choice  of 


214 


Bew  Hmster&am  JFamils  IRames 


of 
fl>arrfe^ 

•CClomcn 


Loewenstein,  Loewenberg  (lion's  dale,  stone, 
hill).  The  Hebrew,  fond  of  money  and  other 
values,  became  a  Silverstein,  Goldstein,  Ru- 
binstein ;  a  small  number  adopted  the  names 
of  their  trades  and  occupations,  as  Schneider 
(tailor),  Kaufman  (merchant),  or  retained  the 
names  of  their  fathers,  as  Mosesson,  Jacobson, 
or  called  themselves  after  the  place  of  their 
birth,  Berliner,  Stettiner,  Hamburger. 

The  same  system  as  adopted  by  the  Jews 
in  Prussia  prevailed  among  the  early  settlers 
of  New  Netherland,  who  added  a  new  diffi- 
culty for  the  genealogist  by  often  calling  a 
person  after  the  mother's  baptismal  name,  not 
because  it  was  a  case  of  illegitimacy,  but  be- 
cause the  mother  had  become  a  widow  with 
young  children  and  it  was  easier  to  designate 
these  children  that  way.  In  regard  to  mar- 
ried women  among  the  Dutch,  it  must  be 
said  that  only  in  a  few  instances  we  find  the 
woman  called  by  her  husband's  family  name ; 
she  may  occasionally  be  called  Annetje  Ttirchs, 
the  wife  of  Dirck  Smitt,  but  she  is  as  often 
designated  as  Annetje  Meinders,  when,  after 
her  first  husband's  death  she  marries  Abel 
Hardenbroeck,  Meinders  meaning  the  daugh- 
ter of  Meindert 

As  the  HALF-MOON  SERIES  is  principally  de- 
voted to  the  history  of  Manhattan  Island,  the 
writer  considers  it  appropriate  to  speak  only 
of  the  names  found  in  the  Index  of  the  lately 


flew  Bmster&am  jfamtls  flames 


215 


published  1(ecords  of  New  ^Amsterdam,  and 
begins  the  inquisition  into  the  origin  of  names 
with  that  of  the  island. 

Somebody  tells  that  Manhattan,  in  its  vari- 
ous spellings,  means  the  "  Big  Drunk"  ;  be- 
cause, according  to  Indian  tradition,  which,  by 
the  way,  is  as  reliable  as  if  graven  in  stone,  the 
first  meeting  of  red  and  white  men  resulted 
in  the  utter  stupefaction  of  a  young  Indian, 
who  courageously  dared  to  drink  the  goblet 
filled  with  wine  which  the  white  men  offered 
as  a  token  of  friendship  and  which  the 
older  men  of  his  tribe  had  suspiciously  re- 
fused. He  fell  on  the  ground,  completely 
overpowered  by  the  hitherto  unknown  bev- 
erage and  the  place  was  called  the  "  Big 
Drunk,"  or,  in  colloquial  Spanish  (the  first 
white  men  coming  here  having  been  Span- 
iards), Monado  or  Monhado,  meaning  the  same. 
This  Spanish  word  passed,  like  a  great  many 
others,  into  the  Indian  dialects  and  is  now 
considered  an  Algonquin  Indian  word. 

In  treating  names  of  the  tirst  settlers  of  New 
Netherland,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  first,  that 
they  belonged  to  probably  almost  every  na- 
tionality in  Europe  and  secondly,  that  during 
the  Eighty  Years'  War  with  Spain  the  United 
Provinces  had  been  overrun  by  soldiers  born 
in  every  corner  of  the  Old  World,  and  carry- 
ing with  them  names  of  their  localities. 

The  first  name  in  the  Index  used  as  a  pa- 


flDeaning 

of 
Aanbata 

tan 


2l6 


flew  amsterfcam  jfamil£  IRames 


tronymic  is  the  father's  baptismal  name  with 
the  addition  of  an  s,  when  a  woman  is  to  be 
designated,  or  of  the  syllable  sen  or  %en,  for  a 
man,  meaning  Aart's  or  Aarend's  daughter  or 
son  respectively,  and  had  the  father  been  an 
Englishman  they  would,  in  this  case,  have  been 
called  Arthur's  or  Arthurson.  In  the  same  way 
originated  Aarnoutsen,  the  son  of  Arnold,  and 
Abelsen  (the  intervening  Abbesen  being  prob- 
ably an  orthographical  error  for  Abelsen  of  the 
clerk  who  recorded  the  proceedings  of  the 
Court) ;  and  going  through  the  whole  Index 
we  find  Abrahams  and  Abrahamsen ;  Adams, 
Adamsen  ;  Albers,  Albertsen  (also  Elbert  and 
Elbertsen ) ;  Andries,  Andriesen  (Anglice,  An- 
drews) ;  Anthony,  Antonissen,  with  the  Greek 
form  of  Antonides;  Arians  and  Ariaansen, 
which  is  a  misspelled  Adrian ;  Barens,  Barent- 
sen,  Bernard's  daughter  and  son,  respectively ; 
Bartelsen,  the  son  of  Bartholomew;  Bastian- 
sen,  the  son  of  Sebastian  ;  Carelsen,  the  son 
of  Charles;  Carstensen,  the  son  of  a  Sleswig 
Christian;  Caspersen  and  Gaspersen,  son  of 
Caspar;  Claasen,  son  of  Nicolas ;  Cornelissen, 
also  Corsen,  son  of  Cornelis,  a  name  which  is 
often  abbreviated  into  Cors;  Flipzen  for  Phil- 
ipsen;  Fransen,  the  son  of  Francis;  Frerick- 
sen  standing  for  Fredericksen ;  Gerritsen  from 
Gerard;  Gillisen,  Jelissen,  and  Jillisen  from 
Giles  or  Julius,  in  its  French  form,  Jules;  Han- 
sen,  the  son  of  Johannes,  in  its  abbreviation, 


1Rew  amster&am  jfamilE  flames 


217 


Hans;  Harmensen,  Harmsen,  Hermsen,  the 
son  of  Herman  ;  Hendricksen,  the  son  of 
Henry;  Huybertsen,  the  son  of  Hubert,  or, 
in  old  English  spelling,  Hobart ;  Jansen,  like 
Hansen,  a  shortened  Johannessen;  Jochem- 
sen,  the  son  of  Joachim;  Jorissen  and  Jurian- 
sen,  the  son  of  George ;  Leendertsen,  the  son 
of  Leonard;  Lodewycksen,  the  son  of  Lodo- 
wyck,  which  is  the  old  German  form  of  Louis 
or  Lewis;  Paulisen,  Pauluzen,  and  Poulissen, 
the  son  of  Paul ;  Reinoutsen,  the  son  of  Rein- 
old  ;  Roelantsen,  the  son  of  Orlando  or  Roland ; 
Roelofsen  from  Ralph,  Rolph,  or  Rudolph; 
Sandersen  from  the  Scotch  form  of  Alexander; 
Stoffels  and  Stoffelsen,  daughter  and  son  of 
Christopher,  in  Dutch,  Christoffel,  and  abbre- 
viated Stoffel ;  Teunissen  from  the  Dutch  form 
of  Anthony;  Woutersen,  the  son  of  Walter. 
In  all  these  cases  the  genealogist  will  have  to 
discover  what  family  names  the  descendants 
adopted. 

Coming  to  names  which  are  still  used  to-day, 
we  have  in  Lysbet  Ackermans  the  daughter  or 
the  wife  of  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  or  a  husband- 
man. As  the  first  English  name  we  find  Ack- 
leton,  perhaps  intended  for  Hackleton,  with 
the  H  dropped,  and  meaning  a  place  where 
the  people  hackle,  or  clean,  hemp  and  flax; 
another  English  name,  that  of  Addison,  is  de- 
rived from  some  connection  with  an  adze,  in 
obsolete  English,  addice,  and  in  Saxon,  adese. 


English 
flames 


2l8 


IRew  Bmsterfcam 


IRames 


Engltsb 
flames 


Jan  Adely,  sailor,  may  have  been  a  Scandina- 
vian, whose  name,  a  slight  corruption  of  the 
Swedish  word  adelig,  (*Anglic6,  noble,)  may 
refer  to  his  birth ;  but  it  may  also  be  the  cor- 
rupted Dutch  word  *Adelaar,  the  eagle. 
Whether  Leendert  (Leonard)  Aerden  derived 
his  name  from  Mother  Earth  (Aerde  in  Dutch) 
generally,  whether  it  came  from  his  occupa- 
tion as  a  worker  in  earth,  making  earthen- 
ware, or  whether  he  came  from  Shakespeare's 
Forest  of  Arden,  cannot  be  decided  here.  The 
writer  suspects  William  Aest  to  have  been  an 
Englishman  named  East,  which  name  the  re- 
cording clerk  fancifully  wrote  j*Est.  He  was 
probably  an  ancestor  of  the  still  flourishing 
family  of  Ast,  and  if  the  clerk's  spelling  was 
correct  according  to  the  standard  of  his  day, 
William  came  from  Germany  and  was,  as  his 
name  suggests,  a  branch  of  a  tree.  The  name 
of  Richard  Airy,  also  an  English  one,  explains 
itself. 

Alders,  the  daughter  of  Aldert  or  Aldart: 
this  Aldert  is  a  baptismal  name  occasionally 
found  among  the  Dutch  of  the  eastern,  more 
purely  Saxon,  Provinces,  and  means  "of  all," 
while  Aris  is  evidently  the  Bible  name  Ares. 
The  next  name  to  be  considered,  Aldrix,  is 
so  variously  spelled,  /.  e.,  Alrichs,  Aldrighs, 
Alricx,  etc.,  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  to 
what  nationality  the  first  of  this  name  in 
America  belonged;  but  we  find  in  Swedish 


•Rew  Hmsterfcam  ffamilg  Barnes  219 

the  name  of  Alarich,  the  great  chief  of  the  Huns, 
spelled  Alrik,  and  this  fact,  combined  with  *ames 
the  appearance  of  the  first  of  this  name  in  the 
Swedish-Dutch  colony  on  the  Delaware,  points 
to  him  as  a  Swede.  Fran£ois  Allard  suggests, 
by  his  baptismal  name,  French  nationality, 
but  we  come  further  on  to  Allard  Anthony,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  an  Irishman ;  Francois  had, 
therefore,  only  taken  his  father's  first  name. 
Henry  and  John  Allen  were  Englishmen,  de- 
riving their  patronymic  from  the  old  Norman 
Allan,  but  alien  in  Swedish  means  "alone." 

Isaac  Allerton  is  to-day  claimed  by  collat- 
eral descendants  as  an  Irishman,  notwith- 
standing the  ending  of  the  name  with  the 
English  ton,  an  abbreviation  of  town,  taken 
from  the  Dutch  tuyn,  an  enclosure.  All  pos- 
sible sources  may  be  called  upon  for  this 
name;  beginning  with  the  English  alert,  we 
come  to  the  Spanish  alerto,  but  the  single  / 
is  against  this  supposition.  Allerton  having 
been  an  Irishman,  it  behooves  us  to  look  for 
a  Celtic  origin,  and  we  find  that  perhaps  the 
first  two  syllables  of  the  name  are  a  con- 
tortion of  the  word  allod,  ancient,  and  the 
whole  means  "old  town."  In  Amy  we  have 
the  old  spelling  of  the  French  ami,  friend. 
Appel,  Appelgate  (modern  Applegate)  ex- 
plain themselves,  but  they  may  have  taken 
their  names  from  their  native  place,  Appel,  in 
the  Province  of  Guelderland. 


22O 


IRew  Bmsterfcam  jfamilg  frames 


Hefralcn ; 
JSancfccr 


Asdalen  suggests  by  its  combination  of  the 
Swedish  as,  carrion,  and  dalen,  the  dale,  or 
valley,  a  Scandinavian  origin,  while  John  Ash- 
man's name  came  from  the  same  occupation 
which  Colonel  Waring's  "White  Angels" 
now  pursue.  The  first  of  the  Atwater  family 
who  assumed  the  name  took  it  because  he 
was  born  or  lived  at  the  water,  and  so  did  the 
first  Bach,  as  the  name,  a  German  one,  refers 
to  a  small  stream. 

Backer,  Baker,  Becker,  took  their  names  from 
their  occupation  as  bakers;  Badger,  if  that  was 
the  name,  because  he  was  allowed  to  deal  in 
grain  from  place  to  place,  or  if  he  spelled  it  Bad- 
gard,  because  he  was  the  guardian  of  a  bath- 
house ;  while  Baeck  had  something  to  do  with 
a  beacon,  or  he  may  have  been  a  very  tall  man, 
whose  head  was  always  to  be  seen  in  a  crowd. 

Bagyn,  Baguyn  :  among  the  many  religious 
societies  of  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seven- 
teenth centuries  there  was  one  in  Flanders 
whose  members  were  called  Beguins,  not  re- 
stricted, however,  by  monastic  vows,  and 
our  Anthony  was  so  nicknamed  because  of 
his  connection  with  the  order.  Bamboes  is 
evidently  also  a  nickname,  perhaps  given  to 
Hermen  Jacobsen  of  the  Index,  because  he 
dealt  in,  or  in  some  other  way  had  something 
to  do  with,  bamboo.  Bancker  is  not  a  banker, 
unless  we  use  the  word  in  the  Dutch  sense 
of  sitting  long  on  a  bench  or  bank. 


Hew  amsterfcam 


Barnes 


221 


Barfort :  Webster  explains  bar  as  a  piece  of 
wood  or  iron  used  as  an  obstruction,  or  as  the 
shore  of  a  sea,  and  we  can,  by  translating  the 
other,  the  French,  part  of  the  name,  give  it 
the  meaning  of  a  strong  bar  of  wood,  or  a  fort 
on  the  shore.  Bartelott  is  a  French  dimin- 
utive of  Bartholomew;  Barton,  a  town  on 
the  sea;  and  Barwick,  a  village  on  the  sea,  the 
syllable  wyck  having  been  taken  into  the 
Saxon  from  the  Latin  mcus. 

Whether  Baxter  is  another  spelling  of  the 
Dutch  word  Bakster,  a  woman  baker,  we 
leave  to  the  decision  of  etymologists. 

The  name  Bayard  is  probably  one  of  the 
oldest  among  the  New  Netherland  names,  but 
it  is  doubtful  whether  its  bearers  of  to-day 
would  be  willing  to  accept  the  first  being 
called  by  it  as  their  ancestor.  For,  in  the  Geste 
de  T)oon  de  Mayence  we  read  '  'Renaud,  lifils 
Aymon  est  en  Baiart  monte%."  Baiart  was 
the  war  horse  of  Renaud,  eldest  son  of  Aimon 
de  Dordone  or  Ardenne,  which  at  a  danger- 
ous moment  develops  a  human  intelligence 
and  awakens  its  master  by  striking  the  shield 
with  its  hoof,  and  at  another  time  carries 
Renaud  and  his  three  brothers.  It  is  not  told 
of  this  first  Bayard  that  it  could  bark,  and  yet 
there  seems  to  be  no  other  derivation  of  the 
name  possible  than  from  the  Italian  baiare,  to 
bark,  unless  we  go  farther  afield  and  say  Bay- 
ard was  one  who  stood  around  gaping,  deriv- 


•Cbc  ffirat 
JBaiearb 


IRevv  Hmsterfcam  jfamilg  flames 


ing  it  from  the  French  buyer,  or  a  crier,  from 
^g  significance  given  to  the  word  in  the  Loir 
et  Cher  ;  but  it  is  possible  that  the  name 
comes  from  the  Swedish  word  Boyort,  Boy- 
ert,  a  species  of  small  Dutch  vessel,  which 
appears  later  on  as  Boyer. 

Beaulieu  and  Beauvois  are  distinctly  French, 
meaning  "handsome  place"  and  "handsome 
sight." 

Beck  is  the  Dutch  for  the  mouth  of  an  ani- 
mal, the  English  beak,  but  it  may  also  be  an 
abbreviation  of  the  Dutch  word  behken,  a 
basin;  while  on  the  other  side  we  have  the 
Swedish  beck,  for  pitch,  and  as  Father  Isaac 
Jogues  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  reports  that 
when  he  passed  through  New  Amsterdam  on 
his  way  to  France,  in  1643,  he  found  seventeen 
different  nationalities  represented  here,  Joan- 
nes Beck  may  have  been  a  Swede,  who  for 
some  reason  called  himself  Pitch. 

Beekman,  or  the  Man  of  the  Brook  :  this  in- 
terpretation of  the  name  was  recognized  by 
King  James  I.  of  England  when  he  granted 
to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Beekman,  grandfather  of 
Willem,  as  a  coat  of  arms  a  rivulet  running 
between  roses. 

Been,  a  bone,  a  leg,  Beer,  a  bear,  Beetman 
if  not  a  misspelled  Beekman,  the  man  of  the 
beet,  the  man  who  has  a  bite  or  bait,  Ben- 
hem,  the  basket  home,  Berck,  the  birch  tree, 
Besem,  the  broom,  need  no  further  explana- 


IRew  Hmsterfcam  jfamilp  IRames 


223 


tion,  nor  does,  properly,  Bestevaar,  the  old  man, 
the  grandfather,  were  it  not  that  we  have  two 
juniors  of  this  name;  hence  we  must  suppose 
that  it  had  ceased  to  be  a  nickname  and  had 
become  a  well-established  patronymic. 

Blau,  blue,  Blauvelt,  the  blue  field,  may  also  be 
translated  into  English  as  foolish,  false,  instead 
of  blue.  Seeing  how  the  name  of  Blommert 
is  differently  spelled,  we  must  conclude  that  the 
first  of  the  name  was  a  florist  and,  therefore, 
was  called  Bloemaert.  Blyenberg,  or,  as  now 
spelled,  Blidenberg,  is  a  glad  hill ;  Bode,  a  mes- 
senger ;  Boeckstat,  probably  meant  for  Boeck- 
staf,  a  letter  or  character;  Bogaart,  Bogardus, 
an  orchardist,  and  Boheem,  a  Bohemian. 

It  seems  that  Claas  Bordingh  came  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Danzig  on  the  Baltic,  and  that 
his  name  was  derived  from  his  occupation  as 
a  lighterman,  like  the  father  of  Marryat's  hero 
in  Jacob  Faithful,  for  in  this  East  Prussian  dia- 
lect hording  means  a  boatman  or  lighterman. 

Bos  comes  from  bush,  meaning  a  wood,  and 
Cornelis  Boshuyzen  from  a  bush  house ;  Botsen 
had  kicked  or  run  against  something;  Bottelaar 
is  the  original  of  the  English  Bottler,  now  But- 
ler, the  man  who  has  charge  of  and  fills  the 
bottles ;  Boulter  would  seem  to  be  a  corruption 
of  the  English  Bolter;  Bout  is  in  Dutch  a  bolt, 
a  shoulder  of  mutton,  a  bold  man,  a  quill,  or 
a  duck,  and  from  these  definitions  we  must 
apparently  choose  the  origin  of  this  name,  as 


vaai ; 
Sutler 


224 


IRew  Hmster&am 


flames 


JSowers; 

*cn= 
tbusscn 


the  English  word  does  not  lend  itself  for  use 
as  a  patronymic.  Bowers  is  probably  a  mis- 
spelled Bouwers,  the  builders,  and  Bracken- 
bury,  the  borough  of  the  ferns.  Dirck  Classen 
Braeck,  or  his  ancestor  who  assumed  this  fam- 
ily name,  came  either  from  a  braak,  a  pond, 
or  from  untilled  land. 

The  name  Braidley  is  only  once  spelled  Brad- 
ley, and  might  be  translated  as  a  deceitful 
meadow,  Chaucer  using  the  Saxon  word  brede 
as  "to  deceive,"  but  it  is  more  likely  that  the 
name  came  from  the  Irish  braid,  broad,  or  that 
the  clerk  spelled  it  phonetically,  or  thought  the 
English  a  had  to  be  written  as  the  diphthong 
ai;  in  both  cases  it  would  be  a  broad  mea- 
dow, while  Brandley  is  a  burned-over  sward 
or  meadow.  Bredenbent  offers  an  opportunity 
to  speculate  in  the  construction  of  names ;  were 
it  spelled  Breedenbent  we  could  say  the  first 
two  syllables  meant  broad ;  but  as  it  never  oc- 
curs with  two  e's  we  cannot  suppose  this  the 
usual  carelessness  in  the  spelling  of  names  and 
must  assume  that  the  name  had  something  to 
do  with  the  former  barony  and  present  fort- 
ress of  Breda.  But  the  principal  difficulty  lies 
in  the  last  syllable  of  the  name,  for  we  cannot 
accept  the  explanation  given  by  G.  R.  Howell 
in  his  paper  on  Origin  and  Meaning  of  Eng- 
lish and  Dutch  Surnames  that  Bent  means  "a 
frame  "  and  Benthuysen  "  a  frame  house,"  for 
there  is  no  word  bent  in  the  Dutch  language  and 


flew  Bmsterfcam  tfamtl£  flames  225 

the  English  word  of  that  spelling  would  not  cbariee 
have  been  used  to  make  a  Dutch  name.  We 
must  therefore  fall  back  on  the  Dutch  bende,  a 
troop  or  company,  or  on  the  equally  Dutch 
Bend,  the  name  of  a  society  of  German  and 
Dutch  painters  in  Italy  two  hundred  years  ago, 
so  that  Bredenbent  had  probably  something  to 
do  with  a  painter  from  Breda  belonging  to 
the  society. 

Bremer  is  a  native  of  Bremen;  Breser,  a 
breacher,  or  a  man  who  made  a  breach  by 
shooting;  Mr.  Breun  is  Mr.  Brown.  Briant 
is  evidently  an  Irishman,  though  he  is  often 
called  Bruyn,  the  name  given  to  the  bear  in 
the  old  German  epic  of  Reinard  the  Fox;  but 
the  two  ways  of  spelling  the  name  leads  to 
the  supposition  that  both  are  meant  for  Bruy- 
arit,  a  noisy  fellow. 

Charles  Bridges  took  it  easy  with  his  name. 
An  Englishman,  coming  to  New  Amsterdam 
from  the  West  Indies  in  1639,  he  was  sent  to 
Curasao  as  Member  of  the  Council  under  Stuy- 
vesant  in  1644,  and  translated  his  name  into 
van  Brugge,  which  means  "  of  the  bridge."  He 
returned  to  New  Amsterdam  with  Stuyvesant 
in  1647,  continuing  in  the  service  of  the  West 
India  Company,  but  when  the  English  took 
New  Netherland  he  called  himself  again 
Bridges,  changed  once  more  to  Van  Brugge 
for  a  short  time  in  1673,  and  died  as  Bridges 
at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  in  1682. 


226 


Hew  Hmsterfcam  jfamils  •flames 


SriMtcII; 


Bridnell,  in  other  records  spelled  Brudenell, 
is  again  hard  to  explain,  for  bru,  the  French 
for  daughter-in-law,  or  in  old  French,  the 
string,  de,  of,  and  nettle,  or  nelle,  in  French, 
the  edge  or  rim  of  a  hoop,  give  no  sense;  yet 
we  must  call  this  an  old  French  name,  for  its 
device,  En  grace  affie  (trust  in  grace),  is  old 
French;  it  was  later  changed  to  the  English 
"Think  and  Thank."  Briel  and  Bryel  have 
taken  the  name  of  their  native  town,  Briel, 
on  the  island  of  Voorn,  in  the  Delta  of  the 
Rhine,  without  the  usual  van  or  from. 

Breeders  and  Broerzen  are  a  brother's  daugh- 
ter and  son.  The  only  word  at  all  like  the 
name  Bronk  is  the  Greek  ftpoyxos,  the  wind- 
pipe, but  it  is  not  likely  that  any  one  would 
have  adopted  this  as  a  patronymic;  but  it  is 
possible  that  the  name  grew  from  bron,  the 
spring  or  well,  into  Bronck,  to  become  our 
modern  Bronx.  Brouwer  is  now  a  brewer. 
Bruinsen,  Bruynen,  and  Bruynsen  have  been 
explained  before,  and  in  Bruyver  we  have  a 
misspelled  obsolete  Swedish  word  for  brewer. 
Bryn  is  a  Swede,  who  lives  at  the  edge  or  on 
the  surface,  and  John  Bugby  probably  came 
from  the  village  (by  in  Swedish,  bye  in  Dan- 
ish) of  the  sprites  (buka  in  Russian). 

Bullaine,  Bolline,  Bolleyn,  offers,  by  its  vari- 
ous spellings,  a  chance  of  being  derived  from 
the  Latin  bulla,  meaning  "a  bubble,"  "a 
trifle,"  "a  pinhead,"  or  of  having  something 


Bew  Hmsterfcam  ffamfl£  "Names 


227 


to  do  with  "a  bull"  ;  in  its  forms  Bolline  and 
Bolleyn  it  points  to  the  Latin  Bolanus,  an  in- 
habitant of  the  town  of  Bola,  now  Poli,  in 
Italy.  But  the  form  Bullaine  may  also  be  de- 
rived from  the  old  English  word  bull,  mean- 
ing large,  to  which  the  other  English  word, 
boll,  the  pod  of  a  plant,  is  closely  related. 

Caleb  Burton,  or  one  of  his  ancestors,  ap- 
p~ears  to  have  been  a  seaman,  who  took  his 
name  or  was  nicknamed,  from  the  top-bur- 
ton-tackle of  his  ship. 

The  Dutch  call  a  gust  of  wind  buy,  hence 
the  first  Buys  was  probably  an  irascible  man  ; 
but  if  the  name  is  spelled  Buis  it  comes  from 
a  tube  or  from  a  herring-fishing  vessel,  a  buss. 
Byswyck  may  be  translated  as  "bees'  vil- 
lage." 

Caarber  is  probably  a  misspelled  Caarder  or 
Kaarder,  a  man  who  cards  wool,  while  Calder 
seems  to  have  some  relation  to  the  Spanish 
caldera,  a  caldron.  Calebuys  becomes  in 
one  entry  Kalckbuys,  which  seems  to  be  the 
more  correct,  or  at  least  is  easier  to  explain, 
as  kalck  is  the  Dutch  for  limestone.  Campen 
took  his  name,  which  also  appears  as  van 
Campen,  from  his  native  place,  so  called,  in 
the  Province  of  Overyssel. 

Has  Canidal  anything  to  do  with  Canidia, 
the  witch,  spoken  of  by  Horace,  or  with 
Canidius  Crassus,  the  general  under  Lepidus 
and  Anthony,  whom  Octavius  put  to  death  ? 


JSullafne ; 

Camfcal 


228 


iRew  Hmsterfcam  jfamilp  IRames 


cbatiin 


Capito  comes  evidently  from  the  Latin  caput, 
the  head,  and  Capoen  is  our  modern  capon. 
Capps  may  have  been  a  dealer  in  caps  (Dutch, 
kap),  and  Cardel  (Kardeel),  one  in  ropes, 
a  ship-chandler.  Carelsen  was  the  son  of  a 
Charles,  or  of  somebody  called  a  kaerel,  a  stout 
fellow.  In  Carmer  we  have  the  Old  Swedish 
word  for  coachman,  and  Carpenet,  with  Car- 
pesy,  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  French  car- 
peau,  a  small  carp  ;  so  perhaps  also  Carpyn  ; 
but  its  other  form,  Corbyn,  which  nowadays 
has  become  Corwin,  points  to  the  Latin  cor- 
vus,  the  raven,  which  they  carry  in  their  coat- 
armor.  Whether  Cartwright,  the  maker  of 
carts,  is  an  English  form  of  the  Dutch  name 
Kortreght,  short  law,  or  vice  versa,  the  gene- 
alogist has  to  decide.  Casier  is  the  French 
for  a  maker  of  Parmesan  cheese,  which  the 
clerk  spelled  phonetically  Casige,  the  g  being 
strongly  aspirated  in  Dutch.  Cattoen  is  woven 
cotton,  and  Cawyn  strongly  reminds  us  of  the 
crow's  caw  ;  but  it  sounds  also  like  the  Dutch 
kawaan,  a  coarse  turtle-shell.  Ceely,  and  later 
on  Sely,  have  evidently  some  connection  with 
the  obsolete  English  word  seely,  meaning 
lucky  or  silly,  although  there  is  a  suspicious 
resemblance  to  the  German  word  selig,  happy, 
blissful.  Gees  is  an  odd  abbreviation  of  Cor- 
nelis,  and  is  pronounced  Kees.  Chartier,  the 
old  French  form  of  Cartier,  makes  paper  and 
cardboard  ;  Chatlin  is  a  misspelled  French 


TRevv  Hmsterfcam  jfamil£  IRames 


229 


chatelain,  or  guardian  of  a  castle;  while  the 
Latin  castrum  has  become  an  English  Chester. 
Claarbout  and  Claarhout  may  have  both  been 
intended  for  one  or  the  other,  but  as  the  re- 
cording clerk  made  two  names  of  it  we  must 
accept  it  so,  and  say  that  Claarbout  is  an  evi- 
dent or  ready  bolt,  and  the  other  such  tim- 
ber. Clabboard,  the  Dutch  way  of  spelling  the 
English  clapboard,  or  shingle,  was  a  nickname 
occasionally  given  to  Thomas  Chambers,  one 
of  the  first  settlers  of  Kingston,  New  York. 
Clein,  Cleyn,  Clyn,  Kleyn,  de  Cleyn,  is  the 
little  one;  Clock  and  Clocq,  "  a  bell  "  in  Dutch, 
but  "clever  "  in  Swedish.  Jan  Cloet  is  said  to 
have  come  from  Nuremberg,  in  Germany;  if 
he  did  so,  he  did  not  bring  his  patronymic 
along,  for  only  in  vulgar  German  is  there  a 
word  spelled  like  his  name.  If  he  assumed 
his  name  here  he  called  himself  after  a  bowl, 
or  globe;  but  if  he  was  of  Swedish  origin,  and 
the  name  is  spelled  Cluet,  it  may  come  from 
the  Swedish  word  klut,  a  sail,  or  generally,  a 
rag.  There  is,  however,  the  possibility  of  a 
French  origin  of  the  name,  a  French  maker  of 
nails,  a  cloutier,  having  abbreviated  the  des- 
ignation of  his  trade  to  Clouet,  and  spelled  it 
Cloet.  The  already  quoted  Origin  and  Mean- 
ing, etc.,  says  that  the  Dutch  Kluit  is  the  Eng- 
lish "lamp,"  but  we  cannot  find  a  verification 
of  this  assertion;  on  the  contrary,  the  Dutch 
Kluit  is  the  English  "clod."  Clof,  Klof,  was 


Cbcetcr ; 
Clof 


230 


Hew  Hmsterfcam 


IRames 


Clof ; 

•fccrman 


suspiciously  like  the  Swedish  Klofvc,  a  log; 
but  it  may  be  that  Richard  Clof  lived  some- 
where in  a  cleft  or  gap  (Kloof  in  Dutch),  and 
was  called  after  his  dwelling-place.  Clomp  is 
our  English  "lump,"  Copper,  a  knocker  or 
beater,  and  Cloppenborgh  may  have  been 
sent  about  the  country  to  alarm  the  boroughs. 
Colfex,  or,  as  now  spelled,  Colfax,  seems  to 
be  a  mingling  of  Swedish  and  Saxon,  for  we 
have  in  Swedish  Kol  for  coal,  and  in  Saxon 
feax  for  hair:  probably  the  first  man  so  called 
had  coal-black  hair,  a  rarity  among  the  North- 
ern races. 

The  name  Cregier  is  again  so  variously 
spelled,  that  is,  Crigier  and  Krigier,  Crugier 
and  Krygier,  that  it  is  hard  to  say  to  which 
tongue  it  belongs.  It  may  originally  have 
been  the  French  crechier,  guardian  of  a  creche 
on  a  fortified  bridge  ;  it  may  have  been  a 
nickname  for  a  man  who  obtained  (Dutch, 
kreeg)  everything  he  asked  for;  it  may  have 
been  a  corrupted  German  Krieger,  the  war- 
rior, or  an  equally  corrupted  East  Prussian 
Krueger,  the  keeper  of  a  village  tavern,  a 
Croeger  in  Dutch. 

With  the  names  beginning  with  a  de,  the 
Dutch  for  the,  we  come  mostly  to  nicknames, 
pure  and  simple,  adopted  as  patronymics. 
De  Backer  is  the  baker;  de  Boer,  the  farmer; 
de  Bruyn,  the  bear;  de  Caper,  the  privateers- 
man;  de  Carman  and  Kerman,  the  carter;  de 


Hew  HmsterOam  tfamilg  Barnes  231 

Conninck,  usually  written  without  the  de, 
King;  de  Coster,  the  sexton;  de  Cromp,  the 
bow-legged;  de  Cuyper  and  Kuyper,  the 
cooper;  de  Decker,  the  roofer;  de  Drayer, 
the  turner;  de  Goyer,  one  who  casts;  de 
Graaf,  the  count;  de  Groot,  the  tall  man; 
de  Haan,  the  cock;  de  Haart,  the  heart, 
but  probably  misspelled  for  de  Hert,  the 
deer;  de  Haas,  the  hare;  de  Hagenaar,  the 
hedger  ;  de  Hooges,  the  high  one  ;  de  Ja- 
ger,  the  hunter  ;  de  Jardin,  of  the  garden ; 
de  Jongh,  the  young  ;  de  Kersausvaarder, 
the  canal  boatman,  or,  literally  translated, 
the  seaman  going  through  the  daisies;  de 
Kleuse,  the  close  one;  de  Looper,  the  runner; 
de  Meyer,  the  house  or  farm  steward;  de 
Milt,  properly  de  Mild,  the  liberal  man;  de 
Peyster,  the  shepherd,  from  the  old  French 
form  of  paistre,  for  paitre ;  de  Pottebacker, 
the  maker  of  earthenware  ;  de  Potter,  the 
merry  jester;  de  Riemer,  the  saddler;  de 
Ruyter,  the  rider;  de  Ryck,  the  rich  man; 
de  Sterre,  of  the  star;  de  Visser,  the  fisher; 
de  Vos,  the  fox  or  the  sorrel  horse;  de  Vries, 
the  Frisian  ;  de  Waart,  Waert  and  Waard, 
Waerd,  the  tavern-keeper ;  de  Weerhem, 
probably  misspelled  for  Weerhan,  the  weath- 
er-cock; de  Witt,  the  white  one;  de  Wys, 
the  wise  man;  de  Yonge,  the  young. 

But  there  are  a  number  of  names  beginning 
with  de  of  French  origin,    in   which  case  it 


232 


1Rew  Hmsterfcam  jfamilg  mantes 


•Names  of 
jfrencb 

Origin 


means  of,  as  de  Foreest,  or  Foret,  as  written 
to-day,  of  the  forest ;  de  la  Montagne,  of  the 
mountain;  de  la  Motthe  (Motte),  of  the  soil; 
de  la  Nooy,  of  the  nut;  de  la  Plyne,  of  the 
plain ;  de  la  Chair,  of  the  flesh,  but  possibly 
this  is  meant  for  de  la  Chaire,  of  the  chair;  de  la 
Vaal  or  Val,  of  the  valley ;  de  Maree  and  Ma- 
reest,  either  "of  the  salt  fish  "  or  "  of  the  tide  "  ; 
de  Neufville,  of  the  new  city.  Some  of  these 
French  or  Walloon  names  go  farther  afield 
and  require  more  explanation :  in  de  Honde- 
coutrie  we  have  in  the  syllable  bon,  accord- 
ing to  Valois's  V^ptice  des  Gaules,  the  English 
"ham"  or  "hamlet,"  while  coutrie,  or  cou- 
trerie,  is  the  office  of  a  sexton,  so  that  the 
whole  name  would  signify  the  place  where 
the  sexton  has  his  official  quarters. 

As  it  would  become  tedious  to  the  reader 
to  wade  through  the  surmised,  apparent,  or 
obvious  origins  of  names,  we  give  henceforth 
only  the  explanations  most  evident:  Daven- 
port, has  its  origin  from  the  French  Savant 
port,  before  the  port;  Doesbury,  Doesburg, 
now  Dusenberry,  from  the  city  of  Doesburg,  on 
the  eastern  branch  of  the  Rhine,  in  the  Province 
ofGueldern;  Draek,  the  dragon;  Droogestradt, 
the  dry  street;  Dubo  (Dubois),  of  the  woods; 
du  Four,  of  the  oven ;  du  Mont,  of  the  hill ; 
du  Puys,  now  Depew,  of  the  well,  or  from 
the  town  of  le  Puy,  in  the  French  Department 
of  the  Loire;  Duyckingh,  a  diving-man;  Duyts, 


IRew  Bmsterfcam 


IRames 


233 


a  German;  Duyvelant,  the  land  of  pigeons,  or 
he  came  from  the  island  of  Duivelant,  in  the 
Province  of  Zeeland;  Fullewever,  the  fuller, 
weaver ;  Gaaljaard,  the  French  gaillard,  a 
merry  fellow;  Gaineau  (Gano)  had  something 
to  do  with  a  scabbard  ;  Gansevoort,  from  the 
geese  ford;  Hackins,  in  its  various  spellings, 
shows  that  it  is  the  English  Hawkins. 

Although  neither  of  the  two  Robert  Living- 
stons appear  in  the  Records  of  &£ew  Amster- 
dam, it  may  interest  the  reader  to  know  that 
the  name  was  originally  von  Linstow  and 
that  the  family  came  from  the  Grand  Duchy 
of  Mecklenburg,  whence,  some  time  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  a  Linstow  had  emigrated  to 
Scotland.  Thence  he  was  sent  by  the  king 
as  ambassador  to  the  German  Emperor  Mat- 
thias, in  1612,  and  when  the  last  of  the  Lin- 
stow family  in  Mecklenburg  died,  about 
twenty  years  ago,  there  was  discovered 
among  his  papers  the  copy  of  a  letter  written 
to  his  cousin,  the  Ambassador  Livingston, 
inviting  him  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  home  of  his 
ancestors. 

Keteltas  was  a  bag  for  the  kettle,  and 
Kettelhuyn  was  a  chicken  ready  for  the  pot. 

At  a  time  of  great  monetary  depression  in 
Germany,  some  people  took  advantage  of  the 
uncertain  laws  of  coinage  and  of  the  multitude 
of  foreign  coins  in  circulation  to  decrease  the 
value  of  the  coins  by  cutting  the  rim ;  these 


1  tvingston 


234 


IRew  Hmsterfcam  Jfamil^  IRamcs 


Hipper; 


were  called  Kippers  and  Wippers,  and  possi- 
bly the  name  of  Kip  came  from  this  nefarious 
practice;  but  it  is  more  likely  derived  from 
the  Dutch  word  Kip,  a  pack  or  a  bundle,  or 
from  the  colloquial  Dutch  word  Kip,  a  hen. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  German  word 
Kttpe,  Kiepe,  the  coop  or  wicker  basket.  A 
French  origin  of  the  name,  as  claimed,  seems 
impossible. 

Loockerman  was  the  man  who  dealt  in  or 
liked  leeks;  Meersman,  a  triton  ;  Megapo- 
lensis,  the  Latinized  name  of  van  Mecklen- 
burg, the  man  from  Mecklenburg  ;  Menist, 
the  Mennonite;  Metselaer,  the  mason;  Meu- 
telaer,  the  mutineer;  Middagh,  mid-day ; 
Moesman,  the  porridgeman;  Mol,  the  mole 
(also  a  sort  of  beer),  but  as  the  device  of  the 
Mol  family  in  Europe  is  Laet  de  Mol  in  t'hol 
(leave  the  mole  in  the  hole),  we  must  accept 
the  first  explanation  ;  Molegraaf,  the  mill 
count;  Molenaer,  the  miller,  from  the  Italian 
Molinari,  a  family  name  still  in  existence  in 
Europe  ;  Naber,  the  neighbor;  Nagel,  the 
nail;  Naghtegael  is  the  nightingale,  but  the 
bearer  of  this  name  did  not  show  herself  as  a 
mellifluous  female  in  the  T(ecords ;  Op  Dyck 
lived  on  a  dyke ;  Pluyvier,  who  himself  spelled 
his  name  Pluvier,  perhaps  did  not  know  enough 
to  come  in  when  it  rained,  or  he  liked  the 
plover;  Steenwyck  took  his  name  from  the 
village  of  that  name  in  the  District  of  Drent, 


IRew  amsterDam 


IRames 


235 


Overyssel,  and  Sterrevelt,  from  the  field  around 
Sterre,  a  place  in  the  fork  of  the  Waal  and 
the  Rhine.  There  is  in  the  Department  of 
Cote  du  Nord,  France,  a  river,  the  Trieux,  from 
which  the  name  du  Trieux,  Truy,  etc.,  was 
taken. 

We  come  now  to  the  peculiarly  Dutch  names 
with  ten,  ter,  van,  van  der,  and  ver,  the  ten  and 
ter  meaning  at  the,  the  van,  van  der,  and  ver 
(a  contraction  of  van  der),  of.  Thus  we  have: 
ten  Eyck,  at  the  oak;  ter  Heun,  at  the  hedge; 
while  the  vans  have  mostly  adopted  the  names 
of  their  native  places,  some  of  them  so  small 
that  no  geographical  hand-book  mentions 
them,  but  in  probably  no  case  has  the  Dutch 
van  become,  like  the  German  von,  the  nobil- 
iary prefix,  for  in  the  Netherlands  noble  birth 
was  always  indicated  by  a  title;  besides,  in 
those  days  of  almost  constant  war,  the  noble- 
man found  always  a  chance  to  occupy  himself 
profitably  in  the  army,  and  under  no  condi- 
tion adopted  a  mercantile  life.  The  places 
where  the  vans  came  from,  and  which  are 
found  in  gazetteers,  are  : 

Aalst:  Terwen,  in  Het  Koningrijck  der 
Nederlande,  describes  two  places  of  the 
name  of  Aalst,  one  a  village  near  Waalre,  the 
ancient  Waderlo,  in  the  Province  of  North 
Brabant,  the  other  in  Guelderland.  Besides, 
there  is  an  Aalst,  or  Alost,  near  Ghent,  Belgium. 

Aarnhem,  Province  of  Guelderland. 


H>utcb 
prefiree 


236 


Hew  Bmstertmm  JFamUp  Barnes 


"Coven 


Aachen,  Aecken,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  the 
Prussian  Province  of  the  Rhine. 

Baal,  Basle,  in  Switzerland. 

Beeck,  near  Nimeguen. 

Berckelo,  in  Guelderland. 

Bergen,  in  Holland. 

Bolsward,  in  Friesland. 

Bommel,  an  island  formed  by  the  Waal  and 
a  branch  of  the  Rhine. 

Breeste,  Brestede,  Bredstede,  in  the  District 
of  Flensborgh,  Denmark. 

Bremen,  the  well-known  city  in  Germany. 

Blockzyl  or  Brocksel,  in  Friesland. 

Broutangie  is  either  meant  for  the  French 
Bretagne,  or  an  oddly  spelt  Bourtang,  the 
name  of  a  marsh  on  the  eastern  frontier  of 
Groningen  and  Drent. 

We  have  already  disposed  of  one  van 
Brugge  under  the  name  of  Bridges.  Whether 
the  others  also  came  from  Bridges,  or  from 
the  Belgian  city  of  Bruges,  in  Dutch  spelled 
Bruggen,  cannot  be  decided  here. 

Campen  lies  in  Overyssel ;  Ceulen  is  the 
Dutch  for  Cologne;  Cleef  is  the  Duchy  of 
Cleves. 

It  is  claimed  for  the  van  Cortlandt  family 
that  their  first  ancestor  in  America,  Oloff  Ste- 
vensen,  was  a  descendant  of  the  dukes  of  Cur- 
land.  There  are  several  objections  to  this 
theory.  Curland,  the  country  of  the  Kures, 
a  branch  of  the  Lithuanian  people,  was  an  in- 


Bew  Bmsterfcam  Jfamils  "Rames 


237 


dependent  possession  of  the  Knights  of  the 
Teutonic  Order,  who  Christianized  that  part  of 
the  world  in  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  fourteenth, 
and  fifteenth  centuries.  Upon  the  overthrow 
of  this  order  by  Poland,  in  1561,  it  became 
part  of  that  kingdom,  and  was  only  created  a 
duchy,  to  be  given  as  such  to  Biron,  the  fa- 
vorite of  Empress  Anna  of  Russia,  in  1710, 
more  than  fifty  years  after  the  name  van  Cort- 
land  appeared  here.  The  second  objection  is 
based  on  the  social  conditions  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  which  would  have  prevented 
the  scion  of  a  noble  family  from  becoming  a 
trader;  he  could  always  find  service  with  his 
sword  in  the  various  armies  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War.  Then  the  first  part  of  the  name 
of  Curland,  or  Kurland,  the  Kur,  is  too  much 
like  the  Dutch  word  Keur,  the  choice,  to  have 
been  changed  into  Cort,  short.  Cortland  is 
simply  "short  land." 

The  name  of  van  der  Bilt,  or  van  de  Bilt,  is 
taken  either  from  the  village  of  de  Bilt,  a  sub- 
urb of  Utrecht,  or  from  the  parish  of  Het  (the) 
Bilt,  in  Frisia,  or,  possibly,  from  one  of  the 
Bilts,  or  narrow  passages  of  the  sea,  between 
the  peninsula  of  Denmark  and  the  island  of 
Fuenen ;  van  de  Linde,  from  a  town  in  Gueld- 
erland ;  van  der  Heyden,  from  a  place  in  Hoi- 
stein,  or  it  may  mean  "from  the  heath";  van 
der  Eyck,  Kuil,  Perck,  Ree,  Schel,  Schuyr, 
Sluys,  Smisse,  Spiegel,  Veen,  Veer,  Vorst,  are 


Van 
Cortlant) 


238 


Hmsterfcam  ffamilg  frames 


Cown 
Dames 


purely  local  designations,  from  which  the 
names  were  taken,  as  from  the  oak,  the  cave, 
the  park,  the  sail-yard,  the  bell,  the  barn,  the 
sluice,  the  forge,  the  looking-glass,  the  fenn, 
the  ferry,  the  forest.  Van  der  Stighelen  may 
have  some  connection  with  the  Dutch  Sticht, 
or  Diocese,  and  van  der  Vin  is  from  the  fin  of  a 
fish.  Van  Dincklagen  comes  from  Oldenburg ; 
van  Deventer,  from  the  place  of  that  name  in 
Overyssel;  Elsland  is  the  country  around  Elsi- 
nore,  on  the  island  of  Zeeland ;  Hasselt,  a  town 
in  Overyssel;  Hagen,  Hattem,  and  Harder- 
wyck,  in  Gueldern ;  Huesden,  in  North  Brabant ; 
Imbroecken  lies  near  the  Zuyder  Zee;  Isel- 
steyn,  in  Utrecht ;  Laar  (Lahr)  is  a  town  in  the 
Grand  duchy  of  Baden  ;  Loon  lies  on  the  Maas 
River,  in  Brabant;  Meppel,  in  Drent;  Naer- 
den,  in  Utrecht;  Wyck  is  a  fortified  town 
on  a  branch  of  the  Rhine,  the  Vechte  or 
Wechte.  Malte-Brun  says,  in  his  System  of 
Geography,  that  this  river  in  the  Netherlands 
is  of  less  importance  than  the  Yssel,  Issel,  or 
Isel,  to-day  the  branch  of  the  Rhine  called 
the  Vechte. 

Some  names  of  Dutch  towns  have  changed 
since  natives  of  them  came  to  America :  thus, 
there  is  in  Belgium  the  city  of  Tirlemont,  as 
the  French  call  it,  which  is  called  by  the  inhabi- 
tants Theenen,  and  was  the  Tienhoven  from 
which  Secretary  Cornelis  van  Tienhoven  took 
his  name. 


Hew  Bmster&am  jfamfls  IRames  239 


To  close  this  article,  it  is  only  necessary  to      Utans. 

latefc 
names 


repeat  that  ver  is  an  abbreviation   of  -van  der,        latel) 


and  the  meaning  of  the  names  Verbeeck,  Ver- 
braack,  Verbrugge,  has  already  been  explained. 
Verhage  is  van  der  Hage,  of  the  bush  or  from 
the  Hague  ;  Vermeulen,  from  the  mill;  Ver- 
planck,  of  the  plank;  and  we  add  the  few 
names  which  require  translation,  to  wit:  Vis- 
ser,  the  fisher;  Vogel,  the  bird;  Vogelsang, 
bird's  song;  Vos,  the  fox,  and  Joncker  Vos, 
the  son  of  a  Baron  Vos;  Vredenburgh,  bor- 
ough of  peace  ;  Vries,  the  Frisian ;  Waecker, 
the  watchman  ;  Waldman,  the  man  of  the 
forest ;  Wandel,  probably  an  abbreviated  Wan- 
delaar,  the  walker;  Wantenaar,  the  rigger; 
Webber,  the  weaver ;  Wisselpenningh, 
change  the  penny ;  and  finally,  Wyt  Straat, 
either  a  wide  street  or  a  badly  written  Uyt 
Straat,  outside  street. 


240 


amsterfcam  jfamftg  "Names 


•(Reference* 


REFERENCES. 

THRIVEN,  Koningrijck  der  Nederlande. 
MALTE-BRUN,  Systeme  de  Geographic. 
OWEN,  Welsh  Dictionary. 
BALB',  Atlas  ethnographique. 
DUMONT,  Voyage  sur  les  bords  du  Rhin. 


OLD  TAVERNS  AND  POSTING  INNS 


241 


243 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  VII. 


OLD  TAVERNS  AND  POSTING  INNS. 

BY  ELISABETH  BROWN  CUTTING. 

THE  uncertain  temper  of  Director-General 
William  Kieft  was  the  indirect  occasion 
of  the  building  of  the  first  recorded  tavern 
upon  Manhattan  Island.  His  predecessors  had 
opened  their  doors  to  the  "  stranger  within 
the  gates  "  with  Leyden  hospitality,  but  the 
almost  daily  passing  of  ships  trading  between 
New  England  and  Virginia  brought  many 
guests,  and  "in  order  to  accommodate  the 
English,  from  whom  he  suffered  great  annoy- 
ance, Kieft  had  built  a  fine  inn  of  stone." 
"  It  happened  well  for  the  travellers,"  was  the 
appreciative  comment  of  De  Vries,  who  was 
wont  to  dine  with  Kieft1 

This  Stadt  Harberg,  or  the  City  Tavern,  was 
the  property  of  the  West  India  Company,  and 
was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  warehouses  now 
occupying  the  building  71-73  Pearl  Street,  and 
facing  Coenties  Slip."  On  the  seventeenth  of 
February,  1643,  Director  Kieft  leased  this  tav- 


244 


ZCaverns  ano  posting  Inns 


tTbe 

StaM 
Tbarbcra 


ern  to  one  Philip  Gerritsen,  at  a  rent  of  three 
hundred  guilders,  or  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars,  "  with  the  right  to  retail  the  Company's 
wine  and  brandy,  on  which  he  is  to  be  al- 
lowed a  profit  of  six  stivers  (or  twelve  cents) 
a  gallon."  The  lease  specified  further,  that  a 
well  and  brew-house  might  be  erected  in  the 
rear  of  the  inn. 

What  the  rates  of  the  tavern  were  is  not 
known,  but  in  November,  1643,  Joannes 
Winckleman,  agent  of  Meindert  Meindertson 
Van  Keren,  gave  his  note  to  Philip  Gerritsen 
for  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  guilders,  four 
stivers  (or  fifty-two  dollars  and  eighty-eight 
cents),  "for  board,  etc.  for  the  people  of  the 
colonie  of  Achter  Col,"  (Hackensack,  New  Jer- 
sey).1 The  people  of  Achter  Col,  had  been 
driven  to  seek  the  doubtful  protection  of  Fort 
Amsterdam  after  the  destruction  of  the  colony 
by  the  Indians;  but  the  number  of  guests,  or 
the  length  of  their  stay,  is  not  given,  so  we 
have  no  basis  on  which  to  compute  the 
charges.  The  inhuman  treatment  of  the  In- 
dians was  a  characteristic  of  the  Kieft  admin- 
istration, and  had  the  speedy  effect  of  causing 
a  general  uprising  on  the  part  of  the  savages, 
and  the  serious  threatening  of  the  annihilation 
of  New  Amsterdam.  The  necessary  expedi- 
ent of  procuring  a  considerable  number  of  sol- 
diers, with  other  expenditures,  which  were 
met  only  partially  by  the  Company,  drove 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  Huns 


245 


Kieft  to  fix  an  excise  on  beer,  promising  that 
it  should  cease  "on  the  arrival  of  a  Company's 
ship  or  new  Director,  or  at  the  end  of  the  war."* 

In  June,  1644,  the  first  excise  law  was 
passed,  and  in  August  of  that  year,  the  Fiscal, 
or  roughly  speaking,  the  sheriff,  obtained  a 
judgment  against  Host  Gerritsen  of  the  Har- 
berg, for  payment  of  the  excise.  The  beer, 
according  to  De  Vries,  was  as  good  as  that 
brewed  in  the  Fatherland,  and  the  entertain- 
ment at  the  Harberg  was  not  to  be  questioned. 
Certainly,  Host  Gerritsen  was  supported  by 
Church  and  State,  for  in  the  previous  March 
he  invited  "the  minister,  City  magnates,  and 
their  wives  to  sup  with  him,"  but  the  feast 
came  to  an  untimely  and  disorderly  end 
through  the  "outrageous  attack"  led  by  the 
Indian  fighter,  John  Underbill,  and  the  Eng- 
lish Secretary,  George  Baxter.5 

Little  more  is  known  of  Host  Gerritsen,  but 
the  Harberg  continued  as  a  place  of  entertain- 
ment until  1653,  when  their  Honors,  the 
Burgomasters  and  Schepens  of  the  then  in- 
corporated city,  informed  "every  body"  that 
from  this  time  on  all  their  meetings  would  be 
held  in  the  "house  hitherto  called  the  City 
Tavern,  henceforth  the  City  Hall."  So  ended 
the  career  of  the  Harberg  as  a  public-house, 
though  entertainments  may  have  been  held 
there  on  occasions,  as  when  the  Burgomas- 
ters and  Schepens  voted  to  provide  "a  gay 


fffret 

Erase 
law 


246 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  Huns 


first  repast"  in  the  Council  Chamber  01  the  City 
Hall  for  Peter  Stuyvesant  as  he  was  about  to 
take  "a  gallant  voyage"  to  the  West  Indies 
for  trading  purposes,  in  December,  1654. 

The  number  of  taverns  and  tap-houses 
increased  constantly  with  the  growing  popu- 
lation, so  that  in  1648  one  fourth  of  the  build- 
ings of  New  Amsterdam  had  been  turned  into 
taverns  for  the  sale  of  brandy,  tobacco,  and 
beer.  Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  succeeded  Kieft 
in  1647  as  Director,  in  the  following  year 
issued  a  proclamation  demanding  that  all 
tavern-keepers  and  tapsters  should  present 
themselves  in  person  within  eight  days  to 
give  their  names  to  the  Director-General  and 
Council.  Twelve  men  obeyed  the  summons, 
and  promised,  as  true  men,  to  live  up  to  the 
regulations  for  tavern-keepers  and  tapsters. 
The  list  included  Daniel  Lithscoe,  Abraham 
Pietersen,  Jan  Snediger,  and  Martin  Cregier, 
whose  tavern  was  situated  near  that  of  Peter 
Kochs,  another  Dutch  tapster,  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Washington  Building,  i  Broadway. 
The  ordinances  passed  by  the  Director-Gen- 
eral and  Council  declared  that  the  men  already 
established  as  tavern-keepers  were  to  be  al- 
lowed to  continue  in  their  business  for  four 
years  at  least,  but  only  on  condition,  that  they 
should  not  "transfer  their  former  occupation 
of  tapping  and  selling  liquor  by  the  small 
measure  nor  let  their  houses  and  dwellings  to 


Uaverns  ant>  posting  1Fnns 


247 


another  party,  except  with  the  previous  ad- 

vice  and  full  consent  of  the  Director-General       ®rt>ls 

nances 

and  Council."  In  the  future  no  new  tap- 
room, tavern,  or  inn  could  be  opened  with- 
out the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Director 
and  Council. 

Tavern-keepers  and  tapsters  were  not  to  be 
allowed  to  sell  to  the  Indians,  and  if  any  fight 
or  mishap  should  occur  at  their  houses,  they 
were  to  be  heavily  fined  for  every  hour  during 
which  they  concealed  the  fact  from  the  officers. 
"  Unseasonable  night  tippling,"  viz.,  drinking 
after  nine  o'clock,  when  the  bell  was  rung,  and 
"intemperate  drinking  on  the  Sabbath,"  that 
is,  drinking  by  anyone  not  a  traveler  or  table- 
boarder  on  Sunday  before  three  o'clock,  when 
divine  service  was  over,  were  infringements 
to  be  met  by  heavy  penalties. 

These  ordinances  left  as  favorable  means  of 
evasion  as  some  of  the  Raines  Law  provisions, 
so  a  year  later  it  was  found  necessary  to  order 
that  no  inhabitant  who  made  it  a  business  to 
brew,  should  be  allowed  "to  tap,  sell,  or  give 
away,  beer,  wine,  or  strong  water  by  the 
small  measure,  excepting  at  meal  times,  not 
even  to  table-boarders,  who  they  may  pretend 
to  board,  under  which  pretext  we  have  seen 
many  frauds  perpetrated."  Later,  an  ordi- 
nance was  passed  to  prohibit  "the  sitting  of 
clubs  "  at  taverns  on  any  night  after  the  ring- 
ing of  the  bell  or  on  the  Sabbath,  since  it  was 


248 


(Taverns  anfc  posting  flnns 


licenses 

and 

jftnce 


found  that  there  were  those  who  frequented 
such  places  more  on  that  than  on  any  other 
day,  the  intention  not  being,  so  the  record 
says,  "to  prevent  the  stranger  or  citizen  from 
buying  a  drink  of  wine  or  beer  for  the  as- 
suaging of  his  thirst,  but  that  the  privilege 
of  resorting  to  divine  service  might  not  be 
hindered."  The  boarding-house  keepers  were 
obliged  to  pay  the  Collector  half  the  tapster 
excise  if  wines,  brandy,  distilled  waters,  or 
beer  were  to  be  consumed  by  the  guests. 
Further,  no  tavern-keepers  or  tapsters  could 
receive  in  pawn  any  goods  as  pay,  and  the 
lodging  of  savages  over  night  between  the 
Fort  and  the  Fresh  Water  (Centre  Street,  near 
the  site  of  the  Tombs)  without  a  pass  signed 
by  the  Director-General  or  the  Secretary,  in- 
volved a  fine  of  twenty-five  florins  or  ten  dol- 
lars. Licenses  for  taverns  were  required  to  be 
renewed  quarterly,  and  could  be  obtained  from 
the  City  Treasurer;  but  later  the  retail  sellers 
were  allowed  to  take  them  out  annually.6 

The  taverns  most  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  Dutch  period  are  the  Stadt  Harberg,  the 
resort  of  the  traders,  and  the  houses  of  Martin 
Cregier  and  Peter  Kochs,  the  resorts,  doubt- 
less, or  the  soldiery,  for  both  Cregier  and 
Kochs  had  won  distinction  in  the  Dutch 
service,  and  had  located  themselves  near 
Fort  Amsterdam.  To  these  must  be  added 
the  tavern  in  Pearl  Street,  near  Broad,  kept 


"Caverns  anfc  posting  finns 


249 


by  Mettje  Wessels,  whose  son,  Warnaer 
Wessels,  is  a  familiar  figure  in  New  Amster- 
dam, as  farmer  of  the  Tapster's  Excise,  later 
farmer  of  the  Burgher's  Excise  on  wine  and 
beer,  and  attaining,  in  1669,  the  high  office 
of  Constable.  On  November  22,  1656,  the 
Burgomasters  and  Schepens  granted  the  re- 
quest of  Neeltie,  or  Mettje,  Wessels,  to  be 
allowed  "to  follow  the  trade  of  an  eating 
house  and  to  bring  in  and  tap  out  beer." 
Judging  from  the  number  of  times  her  name 
appears  in  the  Court  proceedings,  her  career 
as  an  inn-keeper  must  have  been  tempestu- 
ous. It  was  at  the  house  of  Mettje  Wessels 
that  William  Bogardus,  doubtless  the  son  of 
Dominie  Bogardus,  possessing  the  traditional 
character  of  a  minister's  son,  engaged  in  a 
fight.  This  little  diversion,  on  the  complaint 
of  Schout  Peter  Tonnemann,  cost  the  said 
William,  according  to  the  rule  of  the  Court, 
the  sum  of  fifty  guilders,  or  twenty  dollars, 
with  costs.7  All  through  the  records,  how- 
ever, are  to  be  found  accounts  of  disturbances 
and  scuffles  in  the  taverns,  and  the  house  of 
Mettje  Wessels  should  not  be  considered  as 
exceptional  in  this  particular. 

When,  in  September,  1664,  the  Dutch  col- 
ors were  lowered,  and  the  Red  Cross  of  St. 
George  floated  over  Fort  Amsterdam,  the  city 
becoming  New  York,  the  inference  might  well 
have  been  made,  that  under  the  English  a  dis- 


prindpal 
5>utcb 
Caverns 


250 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  flnns 


Englieb 


tinctive  change  in  the  taverns  would  imme- 
diately appear.  Later,  the  English  did  make 
their  impress,  and  the  inns  became  political 
and  educational,  as  well  as  social  centres,  but 
for  the  moment  tavern  life  continued  much  the 
same  as  under  the  Dutch,  necessitating  simi- 
lar laws  and  ordinances.  The  tavern-keepers 
were  compelled  to  take  out  their  licenses 
annually  from  the  Mayor,  he  having  the  sole 
power  to  grant  them,  and  anyone  selling 
wine,  brandy,  or  rums  at  retail,  or  by  the 
small  measure,  without  a  license,  did  so  un- 
der a  penalty  of  five  pounds.  As  late  as  1748, 
no  inn-keeper,  victualer,  or  ordinary  keeper 
was  allowed  to  receive  company  into  his 
house,  and  sell  to  them  any  sort  of  liquor  on 
the  Lord's  Day  in  time  of  divine  service  or 
preaching,  unless  to  strangers,  travelers,  or 
those  who  lodge  in  such  houses  for  their 
necessary  refreshment,  and  the  sale  of  strong 
liquor  to  Indian  or  negro  was  prohibited.' 

It  would  be  impossible,  in  limited  space,  to 
give  a  history  of  all  the  taverns  and  posting 
inns  in  New  York  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, however  alluring  such  signs  as  The  Blue 
Boar,  St.  George  and  the  Dragon,  Dog's  Head- 
in-the-Porridge-Pot,  The  Three  Pigeons,  in 
Smith  (William)  Street,  The  Fighting-Cocks, 
next  door  to  the  Exchange  Coffee-House,  in 
Broad  Street,  where  Eastham  promised  to 
show  to  his  customers  "a  curious  portable 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  flnns 


251 


microscope  with  several  different  magnifying 
lenses."  Other  attractive  hostelries  were  The 
Thistle  and  Crown,  near  Spring  Garden, 
where  the  old  gardener  of  the  old  Bowling 
Green  sold  seeds  at  reasonable  rates,"  to  be 
distinguished  from  The  Crown  and  Thistle 
on  the  Whitehall,  near  the  Half-Moon  Bat- 
tery, the  starting-point  for  the  stage  line  to 
Burlington,  New  Jersey,  and  kept  by  "Scotch 
Johnny";  The  Sign  of  the  Spread  Eagle,  near 
the  Whitehall,  at  which  place  Host  Hamilton 
Hewetson  announced  would  be  seen  "  Punch's 
Opera,  TSateman,  or  the  Unhappy  Marriage, 
with  a  fine  dialogue  between  Punch  and  his 
wife  Joan,  acted  by  a  set  of  lively  figures  late 
from  Philadelphia  ; "  The  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land, opposite  the  Merchants'  Coffee-House, 
kept  by  Thomas  Lepper,  who  made  an  ordi- 
nary or  table  d'hote  a  feature  of  this  house, 
advertising  that  dinner  would  be  served  at 
the  sign  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  every 
day  at  one  o'clock;  The  Bunch  of  Grapes, 
near  the  Fly  (Fulton)  Market,  distinguished 
in  having  as  a  guest  "a  Person"  who  pro- 
vided "a  very  warm  and  commodious  room 
for  scholars,"  and  agreed  to  teach  the  three 
R's  and  "fit  youths  for  a  Counting  House,  or 
to  carry  on  any  business."  I0  From  these,  and 
many  others,  it  is  necessary  to  turn  and  seek 
for  a  more  detailed  account  of  tavern  life 
among  those  historic  taverns  and  inns  that 


Curious 

Signs 


252 


ZTaverns  ant)  posting  firms 


fnna 


tlown 
JBuefnees 


were  centres  irom  which  radiated  plans  01 
civic  business,  schemes  of  privateering,  pro- 
jects for  education,  exhibitions  01  patriotism, 
and  social  entertainments. 

One  of  the  early  records  of  the  use  of  an  inn 
for  purposes  of  civic  business  is  in  1701,  when 
a  committee  of  the  Council  was  appointed  to 
meet  with  a  committee  of  the  Assembly,  to 
confer  in  regard  to  the  public  accounts,  and 
the  meeting  was  to  take  place  "at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Roger  Baker  at  three  of  the  clock  in  the 
afternoon."  n  The  "house  of  Mr.  Roger  Baker" 
was  the  tavern  known  as  the  King's  Head, 
situated  on  the  northwest  corner  of  the  pres- 
ent Pearl  Street  and  Maiden  Lane.1*  Baker 
himself  appears  in  the  list  of  freemen  in  1695, 
as  Roger  Baker,  victualer,  and  later  he  is  met 
in  the  celebrated  trial  of  Colonel  Bayard, 
leader  of  the  anti-Leislerian  party.  Here  he 
was  charged  with  having  said  "the  king  is 
made  a  nose  of  wax  and  no  longer  king  than 
the  English  please,"  and  being  found  guilty 
was  made  to  pay  a  fine  of  four  hundred  pieces 
of  eight.  The  White  Lion,  kept  by  Gabriel 
Thompson,  shared  with  the  King's  Head  the 
honor  of  entertaining  the  Committee  of  Coun- 
cil and  Assembly.  The  location  is  not  certain, 
but  its  frequent  mention  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Legislative  Council  indicates  it  to  have  been  a 
favorite  resort  of  the  Conference  Committees. 

After  1704,  the  Coffee-House  seems  to  have 


taverns  anfc  posting  flnns 


253 


been  a  popular  place  of  meeting  for  confer- 
ence. A  Coffee-House  was  in  existence  as 
early  as  1701,  for  the  son  of  Colonel  Bayard 
states  that  it  was  at  the  Coffee-House,  in  the 
presence  of  his  father  and  himself,  that  the 
addresses  which  led  to  the  conviction  of 
Colonel  Bayard  for  high  treason  were  signed.13 
The  site  of  the  Coffee-House  cannot  be  abso- 
lutely proved;  but  the  publication  of  a  map 
made  by  Lyne  during  Governor  Montgom- 
erie's  rule,  1728-1732,  together  with  an  adver- 
tisement in  the  New  York  Gazette  of  March 
i,  1730,  give  some  clue.  The  map  indicates 
that  the  Exchange  (a  building  erected  in  1691- 
92  as  a  market-house)  was  at  the  foot  of  Broad 
Street  between  the  East  and  West  Docks. 
The  advertisement  announced  the  sale  of  land 
at  public  vendue  at  the  Exchange  Coffee- 
House,  and  probably  this  Coffee-House  was 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Market-House,  or 
Exchange.14  If,  however,  its  location  may  be 
questioned,  it  is  certain  that  on  October  5, 
1705,  a  Conference  Committee  was  called  "at 
the  Coffee  House  at  nine  of  the  clock,"  and 
again  at  four  o'clock  the  following  afternoon 
at  the  same  place.  In  1708-9  the  Committees 
met  again  at  the  Coffee-House,  although  there 
was  a  Council  Chamber  in  the  new  City  Hall 
completed  in  1700,  and  situated  on  Wall  and 
Nassau  Streets,  the  site  of  the  present  Sub- 
Treasury  Building. 


Ej-cbamv- 
Coffees 
Ifoousc 


254 


taverns  an&  posting  Unns 


Later  we   meet  with   other  coffee-houses 

like  that  of  the  New>  or  R°yal>  Exchange, 
erected  in  1752,  at  the  lower  end  of  Broad 
Street,  near  the  Long  Bridge,  and  so  "  laudable 
an  undertaking"  was  this  considered  to  be, 
that  one  hundred  pounds  was  voted  by  the 
Common  Council  for  its  construction.  It  was 
completed  in  1753,  and  leased  to  Oliver  De 
Lancey  for  fifty  pounds.15  It  is  described  as 
having  a  long  ro'om  raised  upon  brick  arches, 
and  generally  used  for  public  entertainments, 
concerts,  balls,  and  assemblies.  Keen  and 
Lightfoot  opened  it  as  a  coffee-room,  Febru- 
ary 4,  1 7  54." 

On  the  southeast  corner  of  Wall  and  Water 
Streets  was  the  Merchants'  Coffee-House, 
which  for  many  years  was  the  centre  of  mer- 
cantile transactions.  The  files  of  the  news- 
papers abound  with  advertisements  of  lands, 
houses,  ships,  cargoes,  and  negroes  offered 
for  sale  at  public  vendue  at  the  Merchants' 
Coffee-House.  Such  an  advertisement  as  the 
following  is  to  be  seen  in  any  of  the  provin- 
cial papers:  "  A  parcel  of  likely  negroes  to  be 
sold  at  public  vendue  to-morrow  at  ten  o'clock 
at  the  Merchants'  Coffee  House."  In  1759, 
the  Old  Insurance  Office  advertises  that  at 
this  coffee-house  "all  risques  whatsoever  are 
underwrote  at  very  moderate  premiums,  and 
due  attendance  given  from  twelve  to  one  and 
six  to  eight,  by  Keteltas  and  Sharpe,  clerks  of 


Uawrns  anO  posting  Thins 


the  office."17  The  Merchants'  Coffee-House 
attained  its  highest  historic  interest  when,  in 
1789,  upon  the  arrival  of  President-elect  Wash- 
ington at  Murray's  Wharf,  the  procession 
which  was  to  escort  him  to  his  new  home 
formed  before  its  doors. 

From  1742  to  1748,  and  from  1756  to  1763, 
England  was  at  war  with  France,  and  seiz- 
ures upon  the  high  seas  were  frequent. 
Undoubtedly,  plans  for  privateering  were 
matured  around  the  tables  of  the  different 
inns.  The  wealthy  merchants  of  New  York 
had  been  interested  in  such  enterprises,  and 
many  were  owners  of  ships  engaged  in  the 
business.  The  war  gave  a  suitable  pretext 
for  such  undertakings,  hence  it  was  that  an 
advertisement  like  the  following  may  be  read 
in  the  newspapers  of  the  time: 

"  To  all  Gentlemen,  Sailors  and  others  who  have  a  mind  to 
try  their  fortunes  on  a  cruising  voyage  against  the  enemy.  That 
the  Brigt.  Hester  and  Sloop  Polly  are  now  fitting  out  at  New 
York  in  the  best  manner  under  the  command  of  Captain  Fran- 
cis Rosewell,  and  the  owners  of  said  vessels  being  to  find 
everything  necessary  for  such  an  undertaking.  The  Brigt. 
is  a  fine,  New  Single  Deckt  Vessel  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
tons.  The  Sloop  is  also  New  Burthen  one  hundred  tons, 
to  mount  twenty-six  Guns  and  to  be  Manned  with  eighty 
men,  being  both  Prime  Sailors  and  to  go  in  Company." 

The  articles  of  agreement  were  to  be  seen 
at  the  sign  of  the  Pineapple,  kept  by  Benjamin 
Kiersted,  on  the  New  Dock.18  From  theja- 


tccrmg 
plane 
*ait>  in 
Coffees 

U.10U8C6 


256 


Uarerns  an&  posting  Huns 


teecing 

^Business 
in 

Coffees 


maica  Arms,  on  Cruger's  Wharf,  and  the  Griffin 
Tavern  on  the  New  Dock,  were  advertised 
equal  facilities  for  engaging  in  privateering. 
When  a  prize  was  brought  into  port,  the  goods 
which  it  carried  would  be  sold  on  shore,  and 
an  inventory  of  the  cargo  could  always  be 
seen  at  the  coffee-houses  or  taverns.  Some- 
times differences  would  arise  among  the  own- 
ers of  privateers,  and  arbitrators  would  meet 
at  the  taverns  to  agree  upon  a  settlement,  as 
for  example,  in  1745,  when  four  privateers  ar- 
rived with  six  French  prizes,  the  Black  Horse 
Inn,  the,  patrician  house  of  Mr.  Robert  Todd, 
was  fixed  upon  by  the  arbitrators  as  the  meet- 
ing-ground for  settlement.18 

The  art  of  letter-writing  was  taken  so  seri- 
ously by  our  amiable  forbears,  that  a  regularly 
established  post-office  in  New  York  was  not 
found  a  necessity  until  1775.  In  1659,  under 
the  Dutch,  provision  was  made  by  the  Direc- 
tor-General and  Council  for  a  box  to  be  placed 
in  front  of  the  Secretary's  office  for  the  recep- 
tion of  all  letters,  and  where,  if  one  so  wished, 
he  could  register  his  letter  on  the  payment  of 
three  stivers.30  In  the  English  days  various 
inns  served  as  places  of  distribution  and  recep- 
tion of  mail  matter,  and  the  date  of  departure 
and  arrival  of  the  post-riders  would  be  an- 
nounced in  the  papers.  "The  Albany  Post 
arrived  last  night  and  proposes  to  set  out 
again  from  hence  on  Wednesday  next.  Per- 


{Taverns  ant)  posting  flnns 


257 


sons  are  desired  to  send  their  letters  to  Ser- 
geant Younge  at  the  Hartfordshire  and 
Yorkshire  near  the  Fort."  This  tavern  was 
on  Marketfield  Street,  commonly  called  Petti- 
coat Lane  (site  now  covered  by  the  Produce 
Exchange),  and  directly  opposite  the  Secre- 
tary's office,  which  was  on  Whitehall  Street 
close  by  the  Fort.  It  was  by  the  Albany 
Post  that  the  news  in  regard  to  Indian  affairs, 
and,  during  the  war  with  France,  the  news 
from  Quebec,  was  brought,  so  the  selection 
of  an  inn  near  the  Fort,  where  the  army  and 
navy  congregated,  was  natural.  The  Hart- 
fordshire and  Yorkshire  has  also  a  picturesque 
interest,  in  that  it  was  selected  as  a  place  of 
enlistment  for  the  Louisburg  expedition  of 
1745,  under  Admiral  Warren.21  But  Louis- 
burg  was  lost  and  won  again  after  the  War- 
ren expedition,  and  when,  in  1758,  news  was 
received  that  a  powerful  fleet  under  Admiral 
Boscawen  had  retaken  it,  a  grand  official  din- 
ner was  given,  not  at  the  Hartfordshire  and 
Yorkshire,  where  the  brave  men  of  thirteen 
years  before  had  recruited,  but  at  the  Province 
Arms,  the  then  favorite  resort  of  loyal  Eng- 
lishmen. The  cannon  of  Fort  George  re- 
sponded to  every  toast,  and  the  city  was 
illuminated,  as  was  customary. 

The  coffee-house  was  a  favorite  place  for 
the  reception  of  letters,  especially  with  sea- 
faring people.  On  August  27,  1744,  the  fol- 


1  nne  as 
foet* 

Offices 


258 


©lo  Caverns 


posting  Unns 


Knne  as 
Poet* 
Offices 


lowing  spirited  notice  appeared  in  the  weekly 
Tost  'Boy  : 

"  Whereas  about  a  Fortnight  ago  three  or  four  letters  di- 
rected to  the  Printer  of  this  paper  were  left  at  The  Merchants' 
Coffee-House  in  this  City,  among  many  other  letters,  by 
Captain  Romar  from  South  Carolina  ;  which  letters  have 
been  by  ill-minded  persons  either  destroyed  or  conveyed 
away  unknown.  This  is  to  notify,  that  if  any  Person  will 
give  sufficient  Information  whereby  the  Offender  may  have 
justice,  he  shall  have  twenty  shillings  reward.  The  Keeper 
of  the  said  Coffee  House  late  usage  of  me  obliges  me  to  have 
no  more  Sentiments  of  him  than  the  Case  will  allow." 

In  1752,  one  William  Wood  was  the  carrier 
between  New  York  and  Albany,  and  he  gave 
the  public  notice  that  letters  would  be  "taken 
in  at  his  house  on  Thurman  Dock  on  the  North 
River  or  at  Benjamin  Pain's,  who  at  this  time 
was  keeping  the  Gentleman's  Coffee-House 
and  Tavern  on  Broad  Street,  near  the  Old 
Slip."41  Some  of  the  inn-keepers  advertised 
as  a  special  feature  of  their  houses,  that  they 
would  "take  in  the  newspapers."  When 
George  Burns  took  the  Cart  and  Horse,  in 
1750,  he  promised  his  patrons  that  they 
should  always  find  the  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
and  New  York  newspapers;  and  in  1774, 
when  Edward  Bardin  was  again  keeper  at  the 
sign  of  the  King's  Arms,  he  announced  that 
the  "  public  prints  "  were  taken  for  the  gen- 
tlemen's amusement.  Four  years  later,  when 
John  Adams  was  stopping  a  few  days  in  New 


Uaverns  anD  posting  Inns 


259 


York  on  his  way  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
he  visited,  under  the  escort  of  the  "disinter- 
ested patriot,"  Alexander  MacDougall,  the 
coffee-house,  "which,"  says  Adams,  "was 
full  of  gentlemen  and  where  we  read  the 
newspapers."  " 

In  the  early  half  of  the  last  century,  the 
house  most  frequented  by  the  gentry  was  Mr. 
Todd's,  at  the  sign  of  the  Black  Horse,  located, 
in  1735,  in  Smith  (William)  Street,  near  the 
Old  Dutch  Church.  The  Black  Horse  was 
the  centre  of  the  social  life  of  the  city ;  balls, 
concerts,  and  dinners  were  given  there,  and 
the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Society  of  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons  was  accustomed  to  hold  its 
meetings  at  this  fashionable  inn.  The  New 
York  Gazette  of  January  6,  1786,  announces 

"a  Concert  of  Musick,  Vocal  and  Instrumental  for  the  Bene- 
fit of  Mr.  Parchebell,  the  Harpsicord  Part  performed  by  him- 
self. The  Songs,  Violins  and  German  Flutes  by  private 
Hands.  The  concert  will  begin  at  six  precisely  In  the  House 
of  Robert  Todd,  Vintner.  Tickets  to  be  had  at  the  Coffee 
House,  and  at  Mr.  Todd's  at  43." 

It  was  at  the  Black  Horse  that  "a  very 
splendid  entertainment  was  provided  by  the 
principal  Merchants  and  other  Gentlemen  of 
this  City  for  His  Excellency  Governor  Crosby 
in  order  to  congratulate  him  upon  his  safe  re- 
turn from  Albany!  "  The  fete  for  which  this 
house  is  famous,  however,  is  that  given  in 


JSlacfc 
Iboree 
Unn 


260 


©to  TTaverns  anfc  posting  Huns 


inn 


honor  of  the  birthday  01  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
on  January  !9»   11^'     During  tne  day  there 


was  the  usual  celebration  at  the  Fort,  where 
the  healths  of  the  Royal  Family  and  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  were  drunk,  and  "in  the 
evening  the  ball  at  Mr.  Todd's  at  which  there 
was  a  very  great  appearance  of  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen and  an  elegant  entertainment  made  by 
the  gentlemen  in  honor  of  the  day.""  An- 
other newspaper  account  says:  "The  ball 
opened  with  French  dances  and  then  the 
company  proceeded  to  country  dances,  upon 
which  (  Mrs.  Norris  led  up  two  new  country 
dances,  made  upon  the  occasion,  the  first  of 
which  was  called  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and 
the  second  the  Princess  of  Saxe-Gotha."  It 
comments  further  upon  the  "most  magnifi- 
cent appearance  "  of  the  ladies,  which  may  be 
well  believed,  for  Mr.  Smith,  the  discriminat- 
ing historian,  has  much  to  say  of  the  social 
life  in  New  York  at  that  time,  and  speaks  of 
the  ladies  as  "  comely  and  well-dressed,  very 
few  having  distorted  shapes."  " 

Nine  years  later  the  host  of  the  Black  Horse 
had  died,  and  his  widow,  Margaret  Todd,  ad- 
vertised for  sale  fine  old  Madeira  wine,  Canary 
wines,  etc.,  and  also  playing-cards,  all  at  rea- 
sonable rates.  When  Jonathan  Ogden  bought 
the  sign  he  moved  it  to  Queen  Street,  and  in 
1  750,  the  Boston  Post  made  this  tavern  its  stop- 
ping-place. After  his  death,  in  1753,  it  was 


ZTaverns  anfc  {Posting  Unus  261 


purchased  by  John  Halstead,  and  he  agreed  to 

TEavetn 


keep   it  as  formerly,  but  from  this  time   on       *ea6 


little  more  is  known  of  the  Black  Horse  Inn. 

The  sporting  element  in  New  York  could 
give  vent  to  its  feelings  at  the  Drover's  Inn, 
kept  by  Adam  Van  Der  Burgh,  and  occupy- 
ing the  ground  covered  by  the  present  Astor 
House ;  here  horses  were  run  over  a  race-course 
laid  out,  somewhat  incongruously  it  would 
seem,  on  the  Church  Farm.  Entries  were 
required  to  be  made  the  day  before  the  race, 
and  all  spectators  in  chaises  or  on  horseback, 
except  those  having  racing-horses,  were 
charged  sixpence  each  upon  going  into  the 
field.26  Ten  years  later  the  same  element  was 
to  be  found  at  the  old  Bull's  Head  Tavern,  on 
the  Bowery  (the  site  of  the  Thalia  Theatre), 
whose  presiding  genius  in  1755  was  one 
George  Brewerton.  This  was  the  last  halt- 
ing-place for  the  stages  before  entering  the 
city.  From  this  tavern  started  the  procession 
which  escorted  General  Washington  in  his 
triumphal  march  through  the  city  on  Novem- 
ber 25,  1783.  Governor  Clinton,  the  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, and  the  members  of  the  Council 
accompanied  him  under  an  escort  of  a  party 
of  horse  eight  abreast;  after  passing  down 
Queen  Street  and  the  line  of  troops  up  the 
Broadway,  their  Excellencies  alighted  at  Cape's 
Tavern,  the  familiar  Province  Arms,  or  State 
Arms,  as  it  was  then  called." 


262 


©ID  Uaverns  anfc  postlna  Unas 


•Koab 

"Caverns 


Between  the  old  Bull's  Head,  of  sporting 
proclivities,  and  the  quiet  inn  at  Kingsbridge 
were  two  or  three  taverns  of  more  or  less 
note.  Five  miles  out  from  New  York,  on 
the  old  post-road,  at  about  the  present  Sixty- 
fifth  Street,  was  the  sign  of  the  Dove,  which 
is  described  in  an  advertisement  in  1770,  as 
having  "a  commodious  kitchen,  garden,  barn, 
stable,  and  small  tract  of  land."  The  Half- 
Way  House,  at  the  foot  of  Harlem  Lane, 
marked  by  its  name  the  distance  between 
the  City  Hall,  in  Wall  Street,  and  the  King's 
Bridge.  The  inn  at  Kingsbridge,  Hannah 
Callender,  a  Philadelphia  lady,  visiting  New 
York  in  1759,  describes  in  her  diary  as  being 
very  prettily  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  the 
little  river  meandering  through  a  meadow  be- 
fore it.  On  one  side  were  highlands  of  woods, 
and  in  another  direction  cattle  could  be  seen 
grazing  on  the  plains.  A  Dutchman  was  the 
host,  and  a  very  good  one,  so  she  says,  who 
"insisted  upon  having  their  names  and 
promised  to  send  them  some  sweethearts!"" 
Washington  makes  mention  twice  in  his 
diary  of  stopping  here  when  on  his  way  to 
and  from  Boston. 

On  Broadway,  between  Stone  (Thames) 
Street  and  Little  Queen  (Cedar)  Street,  stood 
the  mansion  owned  by  Lieutenant-Governor 
James  De  Lancey,  and  built  by  his  father, 
Etienne  De  Lancey,  shortly  after  1700.  This 


TTaverns  anfc  {posting  Huns 


263 


was  one  of  the  fine  residences  of  the  city. 
From  its  windows  could  be  seen  life  and 
death,  in  marked  contrast,  for  the  Mall,  where 
fashionable  folk  walked,  and  the  Trinity 
Churchyard,  where  fashionable  folk  lay,  were 
close  at  hand.  In  the  rear  was  a  broad  piazza, 
which  commanded  a  fine  view  of  the  North 
River,  and  a  garden  sloping  down  to  the  wa- 
ter's edge.  The  picturesque  and  central  loca- 
tion of  the  house  commended  itself  to  Edward 
Willet,  and  in  1754  he  opened  a  tavern  there 
under  the  sign  of  the  Province  Arms." 

This  house  was  destined  to  become  one 
of  the  famous  taverns  of  the  century.  It  be- 
gan its  brilliant  career  by  two  public  dinners 
of  note.  The  first  was  given  to  Sir  Charles 
Hardy,  who  came  out  in  1755,  to  succeed,  as 
Governor,  Sir  Danvers  Osborne,  whose  sui- 
cide in  the  previous  year  had  created  great 
excitement.  The  second  took  place  a  year 
later,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  King's  College.  The  arrange- 
ments for  this  last  function  provided  that  the 
Lieutenant-Governor,  Governors  of  the  Col- 
lege, and  students  should  assemble  at  Mr. 
Willet's,  and  from  there  proceed  to  the  col- 
lege grounds.  After  the  ceremony  of  the  lay- 
ing of  the  stone  "they  returned  to  Mr.  Willet's, 
where  there  was  a  very  elegant  dinner,  after 
which  the  usual  loyal  healths  were  drunk  and 
Prosperity  to  the  College,  and  the  whole  was 


province 
Brms 


264 


Uaverns  ano  posting  Huns 


tTbe 

province 
Hrms 


conducted  with  the  utmost  decency  and 
propriety."80 

In  May,  1763,  Mr.  George  Burns,  of  Cart 
and  Horse  fame,  who  had  followed  the  itin- 
erant career  of  an  inn-keeper,  moved  from  the 
King's  Head,  in  the  Whitehall,  to  the  Province 
Arms,  where,  he  assured  his  customers,  they 
might  depend  upon  the  best  treatment.  He 
advertised  further  in  the  newspapers,  that  he 
had  "two  Excellent  Grooms  to  attend  his 
stables,  and  take  in  travellers  and  their  horses; 
and  will  stable  town  horses  by  the  Month, 
Quarter  or  Year  on  Reasonable  Terms."  "  A 
month  after  Burns  took  possession,  a  lottery 
was  drawn  at  the  Province  Arms  to  raise 
money  for  the  building  of  the  lighthouse  at 
Sandy  Hook. 

In  April,  1761,  Cadwallader  Golden,  at  that 
time  President  of  His  Majesty's  Council,  rec- 
ommended to  the  House,  for  its  considera- 
tion, a  memorial  which  he  had  received  in 
regard  to  the  erecting  of  a  lighthouse  at  Sandy 
Hook,  "  so  essential  is  it  to  the  welfare  of  our 
commercial  interests  and  the  preservation  of  a 
very  useful  part  of  the  community."  The  lo- 
cation for  such  a  building  was  chosen  on  land 
belonging  to  New  Jersey,  so  Golden  suggested 
that  the  House  act  at  once  upon  his  recommen- 
dation, in  order  that  he  might  communicate 
their  resolution  to  both  branches  of  the  New 
Jersey  legislature  then  in  session.  A  month 


Uaverns  aut>  posting  Inns 


265 


later,  on  a  motion  of  Alderman  Philip  Living- 
ston, a  law  was  passed  authorizing  a  sum  not 
exceeding  three  thousand  pounds,  to  be  raised 
by  way  of  a  lottery,  to  build  the  lighthouse." 
A  year  later  it  was  found  that  the  sum  would 
not  be  sufficient,  and  as  the  colony  was  then 
overtaxed  by  reason  of  the  long  war  with 
France,  it  was  voted  to  raise  the  money  by 
lottery  again,  and  this  time  there  were  to  be 
two  lotteries  of  three  thousand  pounds  each. 

The  scheme  was  as  follows:  "The  lottery 
is  to  consist  of  two  thousand  tickets  at  forty 
shillings  each,  whereof  sixteen  hundred  and 
eighty-four  are  to  be  fortunate,  subject  to  fif- 
teen per  cent  deduction."33  The  drawing  of 
the  lottery  was  advertised  to  take  place  on 
June  14,  1763,  at  the  City  Hall,  where  lot- 
teries were  usually  drawn,  but  a  change  of 
place  was  made  necessary  by  the  fact  that 
the  City  Hall  at  that  time  was  undergoing  re- 
pairs, and  so  the  numbers  were  drawn  in  Mr. 
Burns's  Long  Room  at  the  Province  Arms." 
The  lighthouse  was  built,  and  in  the  August 
number  of  the  New  York  Magazine  for  1790 
is  a  picture  and  description  of  the  building. 
The  interesting  but  fanciful  statement  is  there 
made  that  the  light  could  be  seen  at  a  distance 
often  leagues!  The  Sandy  Hook  light  of  to- 
day is  officially  registered  to  be  seen  at  just 
one  half  that  distance,  fifteen  miles! 

Perhaps  what  has   largely   contributed   to 


Ube 

province 
Hrms 


266 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  linns 


Ube 

province 
Hrms 


make  the  Province  Arms  historic  is  that  its 
walls  were  witness  to  more  than  one  out- 
burst of  patriotic  sentiment  during  the  Stamp 
Tax  excitement.  The  first  was  the  famous 
Non-Importation  Agreement,  which  was 
signed  by  two  hundred  merchants  on  the 
night  of  October  31,  1765,"  the  eve  of  the 
day  the  law  was  to  take  effect  in  the  colonies. 
Again,  on  November  26,  in  the  afternoon, 
between  three  and  four  o'clock,  a  meeting 
of  the  "Freeholders,  Freemen  and  Inhab- 
itants of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York  " 
was  held,  in  order  to  agree  upon  some  in- 
structions to  be  given  to  their  representative 
in  the  General  Assembly  in  regard  to  their  re- 
fusal to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  Stamp 
Tax.  The  day  after  the  meeting  Peter  De 
Lancey  made  himself  illustrious  by  resigning 
from  the  office  of  Inspector  of  Stamps,  to 
which  he  had  been  appointed  while  away. 

In  the  following  February  it  was  discovered 
that  two  bonds  had  been  executed  in  New 
York  with  the  detested  stamp,  and  so  great 
was  the  excitement  that  these,  together  with 
some  blanks  not  yet  distributed,  were  se- 
cured, and  the  whole  burned  before  the 
Coffee-House  in  the  "presence  of  a  multitude 
of  spectators."  This  was  no  doubt  the  effec- 
tive work  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  one  of 
the  incidents  that  Philip  Freneau  wished  to 
commemorate  in  the  following  lines: 


Uaverns  ant>  posting  Huns 


267 


1 '  When  a  certain  great  King  whose  initial  is  G 
Shall  force  stamps  upon  paper  and  folks  to  drink  tea; 
When  these  folks  burn  his  tea  and  stamp  paper  like  stubble 
You   may  guess    that    this   King  is    then    coming    to 
trouble." 

The  English  people  themselves  appreciated, 
if  royalty  did  not,  how  obnoxious  the  tax 
was  to  their  fellow-countrymen  in  the  Colo- 
nies, and  the  common  wager  in  the  London 
coffee-houses  had  been  one  hundred  guineas 
to  ten  that  the  Stamp  Tax  would  be  repealed 
as  soon  as  Parliament  met  in  the  middle  of 
November.  It  was  March,  1766,  however, 
before  the  Act  was  repealed,  and  May  before 
an  authentic  report  of  its  repeal  reached  the 
Colony.  A  day  of  celebration  was  speedily 
appointed.  The  Sons  of  Liberty,  after  listen- 
ing to  "an  elegant  sermon  "  at  Trinity  Church 
in  the  morning,  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in 
more  or  less  turbulent  rejoicing,  and  concluded 
the  festivities  with  a  dinner  at  the  Province 
Arms,  where  twenty-eight  toasts  were  drunk, 
the  two  most  worthy  of  note  being  one  to 
Pitt,  the  other,  "  Perpetual  Union  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies."  Every  year, 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  repeal  of  the  Act, 
there  was  a  celebration  in  honor  of  the  day ; 
the  firing  of  cannon,  a  procession,  and  the  il- 
luminating of  the  city  were  the  usual  features, 
and  it  always  concluded  with  dinner  at  vari- 
ous taverns. 


Ube 

province 
Urma 


268 


Uaverns  aufc  posting  Huns 


•Cbe 
province 

Hrrns 


In  1770,  a  dinner  took  place  at  Hampden 
Hall,  a  corner  house  at  Broadway  and  Ann 
Street,  opposite  the  lower  end  of  the  Fields. 
Forty-five  toasts  were  drunk,  the  last  one 
being  "The  Day."  Dinner  was  served  at  two 
o'clock,  and  the  bill  was  called  for  precisely  at 
six.  Colors  were  displayed  on  the  liberty  pole 
and  on  Hampden  Hall.  On  the  same  occasion, 
a  dinner  was  given  at  the  King's  Arms,  which 
at  that  time  was  kept  by  De  La  Montayne,  in 
the  Fields,  near  which  the  famous  battle  of 
Golden  Hill  was  begun;  two  hundred  and 
thirty  guests  were  present,  and  the  liberty 
colors,  inscribed  with  "  G.  R.  III.  Liberty 
and  Trade,"  were  hoisted.  But  the  Province 
Arms,  or  City  Arms,  as  it  was  frequently 
called,  was  used  for  other  purposes  than  cele- 
brations. In  January,  1770,  a  sacred  oratorio 
or  concert  of  music  was  given,  the  tickets  for 
which  were  eight  shillings.  It  was  the  favor- 
ite meeting-place  of  different  societies,  St.  An- 
drew's and  the  like,  and  the  Governors  of 
King's  College  found  that  educational  prob- 
lems could  be  solved  more  successfully  in  its 
genial  atmosphere  than  elsewhere.38 

Burns,  after  seven  years'  tenure  of  this  famous 
house  of  entertainment  was  succeeded  in  1 770 
by  Bolton,  for  some  time  host  at  the  Queen's 
Head,  the  famous  Fraunces's  Tavern,  and  he, 
in  turn,  was  shortly  succeeded  by  Hull,  who 
had  the  honor  of  entertaining  John  Adams  and 


TCaverns  anfc  {posting  linns 


269 


his  friends  on  their  way  to  Philadelphia.  In 
1777,  a  duel  was  fought  at  the  Province  Arms, 
or  City  Arms,  between  Captain  Tollemache, 
of  His  Majesty's  Ship  Zebra,  just  arrived, 
and  Captain  Pennington,  of  the  Coldstream 
Guards,  one  of  the  passengers  on  the  same 
ship.  Captain  Pennington  had  written  a  son- 
net which  Captain  Tollemache  unfortunately 
fancied  reflected  on  the  supposed  wit  of  his 
lady;  swords  were  the  weapons,  and  a  few 
days  afterwards  Captain  Tollemache  was  in- 
terred in  Trinity  Churchyard.87  From  now 
on  host  succeeds  host  in  rapid  succession. 
During  Cape's  proprietorship  the  tavern  was 
a  favorite  meeting-place  of  the  gentlemen 
subscribers  to  the  dancing  assembly,  who  met 
there  to  discuss  plans  and  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  this  amusement,  which  was  to  be 
the  feature  of  the  winter  of  1783.  It  was  not 
until  1792  that  the  Province  Arms  property 
passed  out  of  De  Lancey  ownership;  then 
Peter  De  Lancey  sold  it  to  the  Tontine  Asso- 
ciation, who  tore  down  the  famous  old  man- 
sion, and  in  its  place  erected  the  City  Hotel, 
which  acquired  a  reputation  in  the  early  part 
of  this  century  as  great  as  that  of  its  prede- 
cessor. On  the  Boreel  Building,  which  now 
covers  the  site  of  this  historic  tavern,  is  a 
commemorative  tablet,  placed  there  in  1890, 
by  the  Holland  Society. 

Another  tavern  which  had  the  prestige  of 


tlbe 

province 
Rrme 


270 


Uaverns  an&  posting  Unas 


jfraun* 
cea'a 

Cavern, 

or  tbe 

Queen's 


De  Lancey  ownership  before  it  became  a  pub- 
lic-house was  Fraunces's  Tavern,  still  stand- 
ing on  the  southeast  corner  of  Broad  and 
Pearl  Streets.  The  firm  of  De  Lancey,  Rob- 
inson &  Co.  used  this  house  as  a  store  from 
1757  to  1761,  when  the  partnership  was  dis- 
solved. In  January,  1762,  the  property  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Samuel  Fraunces,  known  to 
history  as  "Black  Sam,"  and  the  steward  of 
President  Washington's  household  after  his 
inauguration.  Fraunces  swung  out  a  sign 
with  the  device  of  the  head  of  Queen  Char- 
lotte, and  the  tavern  was  known  as  the 
Queen's  Head.  From  then  till  now  the  build- 
ing has  always  been  used  as  a  public-house, 
with,  however,  varying  degrees  of  excellence, 
and  in  later  years  with  none  of  its  early  dis- 
tinction." In  April,  1763,  Fraunces  announced 
that  he  had  opened  an  "Ordinary"  at  the 
Queen's  Head,  and  dinner  was  to  be  served 
every  day  at  half-past  one. 

After  a  three  years'  stay  Fraunces  with- 
drew, and  John  Jones  succeeded  him.  Jones, 
however,  remained  only  a  year,  and  then 
opened  the  Ranelagh  Gardens,  where  he 
promised  to  have  "  Band  Concerts  during  the 
summer  season  on  Monday  and  Thursday 
evenings,  beginning  precisely  at  seven."  For 
the  convenience  of  the  gentlemen,  tickets 
were  to  be  had  at  the  Queen's  Head,  which 
was  near  the  Exchange. 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  Unns 


Bolton  and  Sigell  were  the  hosts  next  in 
succession,  and  they  promised  "Dinners  and 
Public  Entertainments  at  the  Shortest  Notice." 
They  advertised  further  the  comfortable  break- 
fast hours  of  9-11.  It  was  in  the  reign  of 
Bolton  and  Sigell  that  the  New  York  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  was  established  in  the  Long 
Room,  and  here  the  meetings  of  the  Chamber 
were  held  until  it  moved  to  the  new  Royal 
Exchange.  In  1770  they  dissolved  partner- 
ship, and  Bolton  "solicits  the  continuance  of 
the  public  favor."  Fraunces,  in  the  meantime, 
had  assumed  the  proprietorship  of  the  Vaux- 
hall  Gardens,  which  were  situated  on  the 
southwestern  corner  of  the  Bogardus  farm, 
at  about  the  junction  of  Greenwich  and  War- 
ren Streets.  Hannah  Callender,  the  Philadel- 
phia lady  already  referred  to,  tells  of  a  visit 
to  these  Gardens  about  ten  years  before 
Fraunces  kept  them. 

The  diversion,  in  her  day,  was  to  stop  at 
one  of  the  mead  houses,  which  were  in  the 
Gardens,  "  inside  the  Palisadoes,"  and  imbibe 
that  eminently  feminine  tipple  of  the  same 
name.  She  very  carefully  describes  mead  to 
be  a  "sort  of  liquor  made  of  honey,  which  is 
weak  and  has  a  pleasant  taste."  On  another 
occasion  when  she  visited  the  Gardens,  she 
sat  in  a  bower  where  she  had  "a  fine  view 
of  the  North  River  down  as  far  as  Sandy 
Hook,"  and  was  served  to  "sangaree,"  an- 


Uaurball 
(Bav&ena 


272 


Uaverns  ano  posting  flnns 


Jfrauns 

CCS'B 
"Cavern, 
or  tbe 

Guccn'e 


other  mild  beverage  consisting  of  red  wine 
sweetened  and  flavored  with  nutmeg  and 
diluted  with  water. 

When  Fraunces  had  the  Gardens  he  estab- 
lished a  museum,  the  humble  progenitor  of 
the  Eden  Musee,  where  could  be  seen  a  series 
01  wax  works,  "seventy  figures  in  miniature 
representing  the  Queen  of  Sheba  bringing 
presents  to  King  Solomon,  with  a  view  of  his 
Palace,  Courtyard  and  Garden."  Tea,  coffee, 
and  hot  rolls  were  served  morning  and  even- 
ing, and  the  place  became  a  favorite  resort 
for  the  world  and  his  wife  on  their  after- 
noon drive.38  When  Bolton,  in  1770,  left  the 
Queen's  Head  to  take  the  Province  Arms, 
Fraunces  again  became  host,  still  continuing, 
however,  his  interest  in  the  Vauxhall  Gar- 
dens. In  his  advertisement  announcing  his 
return  to  the  Queen's  Head  he  "flatters  him- 
self that  the  public  are  so  well  satisfied  as  to 
his  ability  to  serve  them  as  to  render  the 
swelling  01  an  advertisement  useless."  He 
agreed  to  "send  out  dinners  and  suppers  to 
lodgers  and  others  who  lived  at  a  convenient 
distance." 

Fraunces  apparently  wished  to  pose  as  a  pa- 
tron of  science,  for  shortly  after  his  return  two 
lectures  on  "That  Part  of  Philosophy  which 
tells  of  the  Nature,  Use  and  Effects  of  the  Air" 
were  given  at  the  Queen's  Head.  It  was  pre- 
sumed that  these  lectures  would  be  consid- 


Uaverns  anfc  posting  finns 


273 


ered  "a  polite  and  rational  amusement,"  for 
which  you  paid  a  half  dollar,  and  tickets  were 
on  sale  at  the  tavern  and  the  publishers'.40 
This  famous  old  inn  had  its  share  of  patriotic 
celebrations,  due  perhaps,  in  part,  to  the  fact 
that  the  host  was  a  patriot.  His  name  is  to  be 
found  in  the  roster  of  State  troops  as  private  in 
Colonel  Malcolm's  regiment,  one  of  the  sixteen 
officered  by  General  Washington.  On  this 
old  building — that  for  more  than  one  hundred 
years  has  continuously  stood — "that  Temple 
of  true  liberty,  an  Inn,"  is  painted  in  letters  so 
large  that  he  who  runs  may  read,  the  follow- 
ing: 

Washington 

Long  Room, 

1768 
The  Oldest 

Landmark 

in  the  City. 

History  supplies  the  interesting  fact  that  it  was 
in  this  Long  Room  that  Washington,  on  De- 
cember 4,  1783,  bade  farewell  to  his  officers 
when  starting  for  Annapolis,  a  circumstance 
which  led  to  the  inn  being  known  as  Wash- 
ington's Headquarters.  Ten  days  earlier,  the 
evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British  had  been 
joyously  celebrated,  and  a  public  dinner  given 
by  Governor  Clinton  to  General  Washington, 


jFrautts 

ces'a 
tlavern, 

or  tbe 
Queen's 

Ifoeaa 


274 


Uax>erns  ant) 


Units 


Jfraun= 

ccs's 

'Cavern, 

ortbe 

Cuccn's 


and  the  other  officers  at  the  Queen's  Head 
concluded  the  festivities  of  the  day.41  After 
the  dinner  thirteen  toasts  were  drunk, — a  sig- 
nificant number  in  those  days, — the  first  to 
the  "United  States  of  America,"  and  the  last 
to  our  cherished  Monroe  Doctrine — in  embryo 
— "May  this  Day  be  a  Lesson  to  Princes!  " 


taverns  ant>  posting  Unns 


275 


REFERENCES. 

1.  D.  P.  DE  VRIES,  Voyages  from  Holland  to  America, 

1632-44,  p.  148. 

2.  Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  New  York,  1897,  ii.,  p. 

49,  note. 

3.  E.  B.  O'CALLAGHAN'S  New  York  Calendar  Historical 

Manuscripts,  ii.,  pp.  45,  89. 

4.  Atot>  Vor&  Colonial 'Documents,  i.,  pp.  189,  190,300. 

5.  E.  B.  O'CALLAGHAN'S  New  York  Calendar  Historical 

Manuscripts,  iv.,  p.  200;  ii.,  p.  101. 

6.  Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  i.,  pp.  5-8,  13,  22,  28, 

34  ;  iii.,  p.  159,  note  ;  vi.,  pp.  364,  403,  405. 

7.  Ibid.,  ii.,  p.  233  ;  v.,  p.  43. 

8.  Charter  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1735,  p.  1 1  ;  Ap- 

pendix, p.  53. 

9.  New    York  Weekly  Journal,   September    18,    1738; 

March  10,  1740. 

10.  New   York  Gazette,  October  i,  1753  ;  May  28,  1750  ; 

December  3,  1750;  Weekly  Post  Boy,  August  31, 
1747,  Supplement. 

1 1.  Journal  of  the  Legislative  Council,  August  29,  1701 . 

12.  JOHN  AUSTIN  STEVENS,  Harper's  Monthly,  80,  p.  844. 

13.  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  iv.,  pp.  946,  957. 

14.  JOHN  AUSTIN   STEVENS,   Harper's  Monthly,  64,   pp. 

483,  484. 

15.  T.  F.  DE  VOE'S  The  Market  Book,  \,  p.  279. 

1 6.  New  York  Gazette,  February  4,  1754. 
•  7.     GAINB'S  Mercury,  November  5,  1759. 

18.  New  York  Weekly  Journal,  October  10,  1743. 

19.  Weekly  Tost  Boy,  September  10,  1744  ;  January  28, 

'745- 

20.  E.  B.  O'CALLAGHAN'S  Laws  and  Ordinances  oj  New 

Netherlands,  p.  380. 

21.  New    York   Weekly  Journal,  July  18,    1743  ;   Post 

Boy,  January  7,  1 746. 


•(References 


276 


Uaverns  aufc  posting  flnns 


Deferences 


22. 
23. 
24. 

25. 

26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 

33. 
34. 

35. 
36. 

37. 

38. 

39. 
40. 
41. 


Gazette,  May  13,  1751. 
Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,  ii.,  p.  346. 
Mw  York  Gazette,  June  30,  1735  ;  January  20,  1736  ; 

Weekly  Journal,  July  4,  1  737. 
Ateto    yor£  Historical   Society  Collections,    1829,  p. 

277. 

New  York  Weekly  Journal,  September  6,  1742. 
New  York  Gazette,  November  26,  1783. 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Magazine,  xii.,  p.  445. 
New  York  Gazette,  April  15,  1754. 
King's  College,  of  this  series,  p.  35. 
A^oi  Vor/£  Gazette,  May  16,  1763. 
Journal  of  the  General  Assembly,  1764,  ii.,  pp.  655, 

6sp. 

GAINE'S  Mercury,  April  25,  1763. 
New  York  Gazette,  June  13,  1763. 
PCS*  floy,  November  7,  1765. 
Mercury,  February  1  7,  1  766  ;    May  a6,  1  770  ;   Janu- 

ary 7,  1771. 

Neva  York  Gazette,  September  28,  1777. 
Colonial  Records  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  p. 

307. 

Mercury,  March  19,  1770. 
New  York  Weekly  Journal,  October  5,  1770. 
New  York  Gazette,  November  26,  1783. 


THE  DOCTOR  IN  OLD  NEW  YORK 


277 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History    Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  VIII. 


THE  DOCTOR  IN  OLD  NEW  YORK. 

BY  F.  H.  BOSWORTH,  M.D. 


N 


EW  YORK  had  its  beginnings  in  the  early 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the 
first  doctor  who  made  his  appearance  on  Man- 
hattan Island  was  a  seventeenth-century  doc- 
tor. The  world  at  this  time,  as  we  know, 
had  not  fully  emerged  from  that  long  era  of 
darkness  which  we  call  the  Middle  Ages. 
While  the  arts,  letters,  and  the  amenities  and 
luxuries  of  life  had  developed  in  a  remarkable 
way,  science  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  made 
any  progress ;  and  the  doctor,  if  we  are  to  re- 
gard his  calling  as  a  science,  still  followed  the 
traditions  which  had  been  handed  down  from 
remote  ages. 

We  can  perhaps  best  understand  the  status 
of  medicine  at  this  period  when  we  recall  the 
fact  that  the  works  of  Hippocrates,  who  lived 
in  the  second  century  before  Christ,  and  those 
of  Galen,  who  lived  in  the  fifth  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  were  still  the  standard  authori- 


279 


Ube 

Sevens 

teentb 

Centura 

JDoctor 


280 


Ube  Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew 


•Cbc 
Sevens 
teentb 

Ccnturv; 
Sector 


ties  on  physic  for  the  practitioner  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century.  This  condition  of  things 
seems  most  curious  to  us  in  the  present  pro- 
gressive age,  when  the  teachings  of  twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago  are  so  often  set  aside  as  ob- 
solete. The  doctor's  conception  of  disease 
processes,  and  of  the  action  of  remedies,  was 
a  confused  and  shadowy  theory  of  humors, 
sympathetics,  and  antagonistics.  As  Culpep- 
per,  one  of  the  standard  authorities  of  the  day, 
writing  in  1657,  says:  "The  whole  ground 
of  physic  is  comprehended  in  these  two  words, 
sympathy  and  antipathy.  The  one  cures  by 
strengthening  the  parts  of  the  body  afflicted, 
the  other  by  resisting  the  malady  afflicting." 

The  seventeenth-century  doctor  affords  a 
curious  and  interesting  study  both  in  his 
personality  and  his  practice.  His  armamen- 
tarium consisted  of  certain  simples  and  com- 
pounds, together  with  a  few  mineral  remedies. 
These  were  made  up  into  unguents,  plasters, 
liniments,  pills,  boluses,  and  decoctions,  while 
his  herbs  required  to  be  gathered  in  certain 
phases  of  the  moon  or  conjunctions  of  the 
planets.  Above  all,  however,  his  lancet  was 
his  main  reliance,  and  he  seems  to  have  used 
it  on  all  occasions,  and  oftentimes  continu- 
ously and  most  vigorously.  Of  this  we  have 
a  quaint  and  striking  illustration  in  the  letter 
of  the  good  Deacon  and  Doctor  Fuller  of  Ply- 
mouth, who,  writing  to  Governor  Bradford, 


H)octor  in  ©ID  IRew  Jl)ork 


281 


on  June  28,  1630,  says:  "I  have  been  to 
Matapan  (Dorchester)  at  the  request  of  Mr. 
Warham,  and  let  some  twenty  of  these  peo- 
ple's blood.  I  had  conference  of  them  till  I  was 
weary." 

Of  the  doctor,  as  met  with  in  the  early  days 
of  New  Amsterdam,  we  have  but  brief  and 
fragmentary  records.  Perhaps  we  can  form 
some  estimate  of  him  by  a  brief  glance  at  his 
English  confrere  of  the  day.  At  this  time  the 
most  prominent  medical  man  of  London  was 
Sir  Theodore  Mayerne,  physician  to  Henry 
IV.  and  Louis  XIII.  of  France,  and  James  I. 
and  Charles  I.  of  England.  He  was  probably 
the  most  eminent  physician  of  his  time  in  Eu- 
rope, and  was  a  somewhat  extensive  writer 
on  medical  topics.  With  a  shrewdness  which 
has  found  many  imitators,  even  in  our  own 
time  among  fashionable  physicians,  he  made 
a  specialty  of  the  treatment  of  gout.  Dr.  May- 
erne,  however,  recommended  a  most  clumsy 
and  inordinate  administration  of  violent  drugs. 
Calomel  and  sugar  of  lead,  as  well  as  pulver- 
ized human  bones,  were  among  his  favorite 
remedies.  The  principal  ingredient  in  his  fa- 
mous gout-powder  was  raspings  of  a  human 
skull  unburied.  But  his  sweetest  compound, 
as  Jeaffreson  tells  us,  was  his  Balsam  of  Bats, 
strongly  recommended  as  an  unguent  for 
hypochondriacal  persons,  into  which  entered 
adders,  bats,  sucking  whelps,  earth-worms, 


Sir 

CbeoSorc 


282 


Ube  JDoctor  in  ©ID  Hew  Jt)orfc 


Sir 
•Renelm 


and  the    marrow   of  the  thigh-bone   of  an 

Another  distinguished  doctor  of  this  period 
also  was  Sir  Thomas  Brown,  the  erudite  and 
famous  author  of  l^eligio  Medici.  Another 
was  the  "eccentric,  gallant,  brave,  credulous, 
persevering,  frivolous "  Sir  Kenelm  Digby, 
courtier,  cook,  lover,  warrior,  political  in- 
triguer, and  finally  doctor.  By  means  of  his 
famous  sympathetic  powder  some  of  the  most 
marvellous  cures  in  the  history  of  medicine 
were  accomplished.  Curiously  enough,  the 
composition  of  this  powder  was  revealed  after 
the  Doctor's  death,  by  his  chemist,  and  con- 
sisted merely  of  sulphate  of  lime  which  was 
obtained  by  a  rather  unusual  but  unnecessa- 
rily complicated  process.  Among  others  of 
this  time  were  William  Harvey,  who,  unlike 
those  we  have  mentioned,  left  to  the  world  a 
bequest  of  incalculable  value  in  his  great  dis- 
covery of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  and 
Sydenham,  one  of  the  first  to  make  available 
to  his  own  and  subsequent  generations  the 
value  of  intelligent  clinical  observation. 

We  refer  casually  to  these  gentlemen  as 
throwing  a  certain  light  on  the  seventeenth- 
century  doctor  whose  advent  on  Manhattan 
Island  is  the  subject  of  the  present  paper. 
For  while  none  of  them,  with  the  exception  of 
Sydenham  and  Harvey,  made  any  permanent 
contribution  to  the  world's  progress,  their 


Boctor  in  ©l& 1Rew  3])orfe 


283 


personality  and  practice  afford  us  an  interest- 
ing subject  for  study.  They  certainly  did  not 
treat  disease  with  any  intelligent  conception 
of  the  pathological  process  they  intended  to 
counteract,  or  of  the  true  action  of  drugs  ; 
yet  they  undoubtedly  thought  they  cured  dis- 
ease. Was  it  by  their  practice  or  their  per- 
sonality ?  Something  of  the  practice  we  have 
seen.  Their  personality  was  a  curious  pic- 
ture. 

On  the  continent  at  this  time  the  doctor 
was  decked  out  in  long  black  gown  and  skull- 
cap, a  modification  of  the  robe  of  his  priestly 
predecessor.  There  seems  to  have  been  an 
evident  attempt  to  make  himself  impressive 
and  decorative.  His  gold-headed  cane  was 
absolutely  essential,  and  we  have,  preserved 
in  the  College  of  Physicians  in  London,  to  this 
day,  the  cane  carried  successively  by  Radcliff, 
Mead,  Askin,  Pitcairn,  and  Bailey.  His  wig 
was  adorned  with  two  and  even  three  tails, 
and  so  elaborately  dressed  that  he  often  went 
bareheaded  through  the  streets  of  London  lest 
it  should  become  disordered.  His  silk  coat 
and  stockings  and  silver  buckles  appear  to 
have  been  essential  parts  of  his  dress,  and 
even  a  muff  to  preserve  the  softness  and  deli- 
cacy of  the  hands  was  carried  by  many.  Up 
to  the  days  of  Charles  II.  he  made  his  visits 
on  horseback,  riding  sideways  after  the  fash- 
ion of  women,  but  after  that  time  he  rode  in 


Costume 
of  the 

Seven* 
teentb 

Century 
Sector 


284 


TTbe  Boctor  in  ©Ifc  IRew  H>orfc 


Corns 
f otters  of 
tbe  Sick 


his  coach,  drawn  by  two,  and  sometimes  four 
and  even  six  horses.  This,  then,  is  the  proto- 
type of  the  physician  who,  compelled  by  the 
stress  of  home  surroundings  to  emigrate,  or 
led  by  the  hope  of  gain,  made  his  advent  on 
Manhattan  Island  in  the  early  beginnings  of 
New  York. 

Although  the  West  India  Company's  di- 
rectors in  their  original  charter  enjoined  upon 
the  colonists  to  find  ways  and  means  whereby 
they  could  support  the  minister  and  school- 
master to  attend  to  the  mental  and  spiritual 
needs  of  the  people,  they  seem  to  have  been 
content  in  ministering  to  the  physical  ailments 
with  directing  that  comforters  of  the  sick 
(Zieckentroosters)  be  appointed.  I  trust  that 
this  was  not  a  reflection  on  the  medical  men 
of  the  day,  although  one  can  easily  understand 
how  a  comforter  of  the  sick  might  under 
some  circumstances  be  a  safer  attendant  than 
the  seventeenth-century  doctor,  to  whom  we 
have  before  referred.  We  find  recorded  as 
officially  serving  in  the  capacity  of  Ziecken- 
troosters and  receiving  pay  from  the  Company 
under  the  first  Governor,  Eva  Pietersen  Evert- 
sen  and  one  Molenaer. 

After  the  great  commercial  value  and  prom- 
ise of  the  settlement  of  the  New  Netherlands 
had  been  recognized,  and  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  was  organized  for  establishing  a 
post  here  and  carrying  on  trade,  it  is  probable 


Ube  Doctor  in  ©lo  1Rew  JJJorfe 


285 


that  in  each  ship's  company  a  barber-surgeon 
was  included,  who  was  competent  to  bleed 
and  perform  minor  operations,  for  we  find 
that  Harman  Mynderts  Van  den  Bogaerdet 
visited  the  province  in  1631,  as  surgeon  to  the 
ship  Eendraght,  while  in  1633  William  Deer- 
ing,  surgeon  to  the  ship  William  of  London, 
visited  the  island.  These  good  gentlemen 
seem  to  have  been  birds  of  passage  who  left 
no  abiding  record  on  the  pages  of  history,  and 
it  is  not  until  twenty-eight  years  after  Hud- 
son's discovery,  and  fourteen  years  after  the 
arrival  of  the  good  ship  New  Netherlands,  sent 
out  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  that 
we  find  the  record  of  a  regularly  educated 
medical  man  making  his  appearance  in  the 
settlement.  Previous  to  this,  however,  mid- 
wives  seem  to  have  been  established  in  the 
colony  in  an  official  character,  for  we  find  Lys- 
bert  Dircksen,  wife  of  Barent  Dircksen,  was 
the  town  midwife  of  New  Amsterdam  in  1638, 
and  that  a  house  was  erected  for  her  at  the 
public  expense  by  the  direction  of  Governor 
Van  Twiller.  In  1644,  Tryntje  Jonas,  the 
mother  of  Annetje  Jansz,  was  the  midwife  of 
the  town.  She  died  in  1646,  and  the  daughter 
had  some  difficulty  in  collecting  from  the  West 
India  Company  certain  monies  due  for  the 
mother's  services  to  the  colony.  In  1655, 
Hellegond  Joris  was  appointed  midwife  to 
the  town,  and  in  1660,  the  Council  voted  her 


Official 

toto* 

wives 


286 


Ube  Doctor  in  ©lo  Bew 


Dr. 

Johannes 
la 

flfiontagnc 


a  salary  of  one  hundred  guilders  a  year  for 
attending  the  poor. 

The  first  educated  medical  man  who  made 
his  appearance  in  New  Amsterdam  was  Dr. 
Johannes  La  Montagne,  a  learned  Huguenot 
gentleman,  who  arrived  in  the  spring  of  1637. 
He  was  born  in  1 595,  and  received  his  degree 
from  the  University  at  Leyden,  where  he  mar- 
ried his  first  wife,  Rachel  De  Forest.  After 
practising  in  Leyden  a  number  of  years,  he 
determined  to  follow  his  wife's  family,  who 
had  previously  emigrated  to  America.  He  is 
styled  "  een  wel gestudient man  "  and  his  repu- 
tation as  a  physician  immediately  gave  him  a 
certain  prominence  in  the  village.  His  first 
wife  dying  a  few  years  after  his  arrival,  he 
married  again,  in  1647,  Agritha  Fillis,  widow 
of  Arent  Corson.  By  the  latter  he  had  no 
family.  By  the  first  wife  he  had  five  children, 
of  whom  his  daughter  Rachel  married  Dr. 
Gysbert  Van  Lintroch.  Dr.  La  Montagne's 
ability  was  early  recognized  by  Governor  Kieft, 
who  appointed  him  to  a  seat  in  his  Council  in 
1638,  a  position  he  retained  under  Governor 
Stuyvesant.  Again,  when  the  Council  voted 
that  a  public  school  should  be  established,  if 
practicable,  in  the  City  Tavern,  La  Montagne 
was  for  the  time  appointed  schoolmaster.  He 
is  said  once  to  have  saved  Governor  Kieft 
from  assassination.  At  one  time  he  was  sent 
with  an  expedition  of  fifty  men  to  defend  Fort 


H>octor  in 


IRew 


287 


New  Hope  (New  London)  against  the  Massa- 
chusetts colonists.  At  the  time  of  the  English 
occupation  he  was  in  command  of  Fort  Orange 
as  Vice-Director  and  surrendered  the  fort  to 
the  newcomers.  La  Montagne  held,  more- 
over, at  different  times  various  positions  of 
trust,  in  which  he  seems  always  to  have  ac- 
quitted himself  with  credit.  It  is  believed  that 
he  accompanied  Governor  Stuyvesant  on  his 
return  to  Holland  in  1665,  and  that  he  died 
there  in  1670. 

On  March  28,  1638,  there  arrived  the  third 
Governor  of  the  Colony,  William  Kieft.  He 
was  accompanied  by  two  surgeons,  who  ap- 
parently came  in  an  official  capacity:  Gerrit 
Schult  and  Hans  Kierstede.  Of  Schult  we 
have  no  further  record;  but  Kierstede,  who 
came  from  Magdeburg,  Saxony,  seems  to 
have  settled  down  to  practise  his  profes- 
sion in  the  colony  permanently.  He  is  de- 
scribed in  the  old  records  as  "surgeon,"  and 
received  various  grants  of  land  on  the 
Strand,  now  Pearl  Street,  from  the  Com- 
pany, in  1647,  1653,  and  1656.  In  1642,  he 
married  Sarah  Roelofs,  the  daughter  of  the 
famous  midwife,  Annetje  Jansz,  by  whom 
he  had  ten  children.  In  one  of  the  letters 
from  the  Director  in  Holland  he  is  spoken  of 
as  having  served  the  Company  "long  and 
faithfully."  He  died  in  1666.  Henry  T.  Kier- 
stede, who  kept  the  drug  store  on  Broadway 


t>ans 

Duerstctc 


288 


Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew  l|)oi*fe 


S>r.  peter 
Van  J>er 


near  its  junction  with  Seventh  Avenue,  some 
thirty  years  ago,  was  the  great-great-grand- 
son of  Surgeon  Hans,  and  sold  a  famous  un- 
guent, Kierstede's  ointment,  which  was  said 
to  have  been  made  after  a  formula  of  his 
ancestor. 

In  the  same  year,  1638,  Dr.  Peter  Van  der 
Linde  came  over  in  the  ship  Lore,  accompa- 
nied by  his  wife,  Elsje.  His  wife  dying,  he 
married,  in  1644,  Martha,  the  widow  of  Jan 
Menje.  In  1640  he  appears  in  the  records  as 
inspector  of  tobacco,  and  in  1648,  as  school- 
master and  clerk  of  the  church.  He  seems  to 
have  been  harshly  treated  by  Stuyvesant,  and 
left  the  colony.  Apparently  the  colonists  had 
not  learned  the  art  of  specializing  in  occupa- 
tions, and  professional  men,  as  well  as  others, 
had  to  take  their  turn  at  whatever  opportunity 
suggested  or  necessity  compelled,  as  in  the 
case  of  Roelofsen  who  added  to  the  slender 
salary  of  a  school-teacher  the  probably  larger 
emoluments  which  accrued  from  taking  in 
washing. 

The  Indian  War  of  1643,  so  rashly  brought 
on  by  Governor  Kieft,  necessitated  the  bring- 
ing to  the  colony  from  Curacoa  a  company  of 
soldiers,  and  with  them  came  Surgeon  Paulus 
Van  der  Beeck.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
married  the  Widow  Rennet,  who  owned  a 
farm  of  nine  hundred  and  thirty  acres  in  Go- 
wanus.  The  farm  had  been  devastated  and 


TTbe  Boctor  in  ©ID  IRew 


289 


the  house  burned.  The  site  was  about  what 
is  now  the  corner  of  Third  Avenue  and  Twen- 
ty-eighth Street,  Brooklyn,  and  there  the 
newly  married  couple  rebuilt  the  house  and 
reclaimed  the  farm.  Van  der  Beeck,  dividing 
his  time  between  farming  and  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  thus  became  the  first  medical 
man  of  Brooklyn.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
man  of  enterprise,  acting  also  in  later  years  as 
tithe-collector  and  ferry-master.  He  was  at 
one  time  severely  reprimanded  by  the  Coun- 
cil for  keeping  would-be  passengers  waiting 
"  half  the  day  and  night  before  he  would  carry 
them  across  the  river."  He  seems  to  have 
prospered  and  grown  rich,  for  in  1675  he  was 
assessed  "two  polls,  two  horses,  four  cows, 
three  ditto  of  three  years,  one  ditto  of  one 
year,  and  twenty  morgens  of  land  of  the  value 
of  ^133,  10  s." 

In  1647,  William  Hayes  and  Peter  Brucht 
are  recorded  as  having  practised  in  the  col- 
ony, and  between  1649  and  1652  we  find 
notices  of  John  Can,  Jacob  Mollenaer,  Isaac 
Jansen,  and  Jacob  Hendrichsen  Varvanger. 
The  former  of  these  were  probably  ship  sur- 
geons who  practised  upon  the  colonists  while 
their  vessels  were  detained  in  the  harbor. 
The  latter  seems  to  have  settled  here  perma- 
nently, and  is  one  of  three  men  whom  we  find 
recorded  as  regularly  established  physicians 
in  1658,  the  other  two  being  Hans  Kierstede 


Surgeon 
pauluB 
Van  &er 

Skech 


290 


JDoctor  in  ©lfc  Hew  H>orfe 


S>r. 
Bbram 

Staats 


and  one  L'Orange.  Dr.  Jacob  Hendrichsen 
Varvanger  came  over  to  New  Amsterdam 
in  1646,  and  served  the  Company  faithfully 
until  the  English  occupation,  when  he  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance.  In  1654,  we  find  him 
petitioning  the  Director-General  and  Council 
for  payment  "for  the  use  of  his  medicament," 
which  he  had  been  importing  from  Holland 
at  his  own  expense  for  several  years.  He  was 
promptly  paid  and  his  salary  increased.  In 
1674  his  property  was  valued  at  8000  florins. 

Among  the  physicians  who  landed  in  New 
York  and  settled  in  the  outlying  colonies  was 
Dr.  Abram  Staats,  who  came  from  Holland  in 
1642,  and  settled  at  Fort  Orange,  immediately 
taking  a  somewhat  prominent  position  in  the 
colony,  for  he  became  a  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  aided  in  making  an  important  treaty 
with  the  Indians.  His  house  at  Claverack 
was  burned  by  the  savages  and  his  wife  and 
two  sons  perished -in  it.  He  was  a  large  fur 
trader  and  for  many  years  commanded  a  sloop 
plying  between  Albany  and  New  Amsterdam. 
He  had  a  son,  Samuel  Staats,  who  was  born 
in  the  village  of  New  Amsterdam  and  was 
subsequently  sent  to  Holland  for  an  education, 
returning  to  practise  his  profession  in  New 
York,  where  he  arose  to  a  considerable  degree 
of  eminence,  dying  in  1715.  Another  son, 
Jacob,  was  a  surgeon  in  Albany. 

Another  physician  at  Fort  Orange  was  Jacob 


S)octor  in  ©It)  IRew  U?orfe 


291 


D'Hinnse,  who  appears  to  have  made  a  con- 
siderable reputation  as  a  teacher  of  medicine. 
A  number  of  medical  students  from  the  vari- 
ous settlements  studied  with  him.  The  re- 
cords of  a  lawsuit  are  still  extant  at  Albany 
between  the  doctor  and  a  patient,  one  Thos. 
Powell.  The  doctor  sues  for  his  fees.  The 
plaintiff  pleads  the  existence  of  a  contract  for 
yearly  attendance  at  two  beavers  ($6.40)  per 
annum.  The  doctor  responds  that  the  con- 
tract was  for  medical  attendance  alone,  not  for 
surgical  treatment.  The  case  was  not  decided. 
In  1660,  Jacob  De  Commer  is  said  to  have 
been  the  leading  surgeon  of  New  Amsterdam, 
but  later  he  removed  to  one  of  the  outlying 
colonies,  New  Amsdel  (Newcastle),  Dela- 
ware, and  in  1661,  Dr.  J.  Hughes  practised 
his  profession  in  the  city.  Between  1658  and 
1680  we  find  recorded  the  names  of  Doctors 
Peter  Johnson  Vandenburg,  Cornelius  Van 
Dyke,  Henry  Taylor,  and  Herman  Wessels, 
together  with  Samuel  Megapolensis.  This 
latter  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Johannes  Megapo- 
lensis, who  came  to  New  Amsterdam  in  1642. 
He  was  sent  to  Harvard  College  in  1657,  and 
afterwards  to  the  University  of  Utrecht  where 
he  graduated  in  theology  and  also  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  On  his  return 
to  this  country  he  was  appointed  pastor  of 
the  church  but  continued  to  practise  medicine 
also  during  his  life.  He  was  one  of  the  Dutch 


Samuel 
Acgapo* 

Icnsio 


292 


Doctor  in  ©lo  Hew 


OauStneau 


Commissioners  to  negotiate  terms  of  capitula- 
tion with  the  English  in  1664.  Among  other 
professional  men  of  whom  we  have  brief 
record  as  connected  with  the  Colony  at  this 
period  were  Girardus  Beekman,  Michael  de 
Marco  Church,  and  Giles  Gaudineau.  Beek- 
man was  a  son  of  William  Beekman,  who 
was  a  member  of  Governor  Leisler's  Council. 
After  the  overthrow  and  execution  of  Leisler, 
Beekman  was  tried  for  treason,  convicted, 
and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  He  was  subse- 
quently pardoned  and  filled  a  number  of  pro- 
minent positions  in  the  councils  of  different 
governors.  Gaudineau,  who  signed  himself 
chirurgo-physician,  was  a  Huguenot  and  a 
man  of  considerable  ability.  He  became  a 
citizen  of  New  York  in  1686,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  settlement. 
He  was  from  Sigournay  in  Low  Poictou,  and 
had  two  daughters,  Suzanne  and  Helene. 
Suzanne  returned  to  France,  but  Helene  re- 
mained in  America  and  was  married,  October 
1 8,  1702,  to  Jacques  DesBrosses.  Gaudineau 
was  a  lieutenant  under  Dongan  in  the  war 
against  the  French  and  Indians,  and  in  1708 
was  a  vestryman  of  Trinity  Church. 

At  the  time  of  the  Dutch  surrender,  Johannes 
Kerfbyle,  a  Hollander  and  a  graduate  of  Ley- 
den  University,  came  to  the  Colony,  where  he 
arose  to  a  considerable  eminence  as  a  prac- 
titioner of  medicine.  In  1691,  he  performed 


Zibe  H>octor  in 


IRew 


293 


what  was  probably  the  first  post-mortem  ex- 
amination made  in  America,  when  under  the  li^^ 
direction  of  the  authorities  he  made  an  au-  tmonera 
topsy  on  the  body  of  Governor  Slaughter, 
whose  sudden  death  it  was  suspected  had 
been  due  to  the  administration  of  poison. 

During  Governor  Kieft's  administration  a 
moderate  immigration  seems  to  have  set  in, 
and  the  village  was  filling  with  people  not  in 
the  employ  of  the  Company  ;  hence  the  ques- 
tion arose  in  the  minds  of  the  Directors,  wheth- 
er they  should  still  maintain  a  surgeon  at  their 
own  expense,  or  allow  all  those  who  wished, 
to  practise  their  profession  independently. 
As  we  have  already  seen,  medical  practice  at 
this  day  was  not  restricted  by  diplomas  and 
licenses,  but,  to  a  certain  extent,  every  one 
deemed  himself  competent  to  practise  along 
certain  lines,  and  large  numbers  were  accus- 
tomed to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege. 
Three  such  practitioners  were  well  known  to 
have  made  pills  and  sold  Vienna  drinks,  /.  e., 
a  concoction  of  rhubarb,  senna,  and  port  wine, 
to  the  people  of  New  Amsterdam  in  1652. 
Pieter  Le  Feber,  a  French  Huguenot,  peti- 
tioned the  Council  in  1653  for  permission  to 
sell  certain  waters  prepared  by  him  for  med- 
icinal uses.  The  desired  permission  was 
given,  but  the  Council  were  in  doubt  as  to 
the  legality  of  their  action  under  the  laws  of 
the  Company,  since  brewers  and  wholesale 


294 


ZIbe  Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew  H?orfe 


J5arber» 
Surgeons 


dealers,  including  distillers,  were  not  per- 
mitted to  keep  a  tavern,  or  sell  beer  or  wine 
at  retail.  Le  Feber  seems  to  have  discoursed 
so  eloquently  before  the  Directors  of  the  many 
virtues  of  his  decoction,  that  an  exception  was 
made  in  his  favor  on  humane  grounds,  and  he 
was  permitted  to  sell  his  marvellous  water  at 
both  wholesale  and  retail. 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  the  doctors  of  the 
early  colony  called  himself  a  chirurgo-physi- 
cian.  This  was  an  irregular  title,  for  the  doc- 
tor of  the  seventeenth  century  was  either  a 
chirurgeon  (contracted  into  surgeon  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighteenth  century),  physician, 
or  barber-chirurgeon,  the  designation  of  doc- 
tor not  coming  into  use  in  America  until  about 
1 769.  This  association  of  the  surgical  and  ton- 
sorial  art  seems  very  curious  to  one  living  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  but  it  arose  in  a  very  sim- 
ple and  natural  way.  Physicians  have  been 
known  in  history  from  the  earliest  recorded 
times.  A  chirurgeon  (from  the  Greek  words, 
je/p,  hand,  and  epyov,  work)  seems  to  have 
been  at  first  merely  an  assistant  of  the  physi- 
cian, performing  for  him  various  minor  duties. 
This  condition  existed  through  the  days  of 
Greek  and  Roman  civilization,  but  during  the 
Dark  Ages  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Europe 
fell  almost  entirely  into  clerical  hands,  and  the 
duties  of  both  physician  and  surgeon  were 
performed  by  the  priesthood.  Certain  abuses 


ZTbe  H>octor  in  <§>R>  IRew  H>orfc 


295 


crept  in  which  led  the  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties to  interfere  and  forbid  the  clergy  from  prac- 
tising outside  their  monasteries.  And  again, 
as  we  find  recorded  in  various  Councils  of  the 
Church  during  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 
the  shedding  of  blood  by  the  clergy,  as  in 
surgical  operations,  was  absolutely  interdicted. 
In  order  to  retain  their  practice  they  were  in 
the  habit  of  sending  out  their  barbers  to  per- 
form blood-letting  and  other  of  the  minor  op- 
erations in  surgery.  By  that  time  the  shaven 
priesthood  had  come  into  being,  and  the  bar- 
ber was  an  attach^  of  every  monastic  institu- 
tion. As  we  can  readily  see,  these  monastery 
barbers  very  soon  began  to  practise  independ- 
ently. As  they  grew  in  number  and  strength 
they  became  incorporated  into  special  crafts, 
that  of  the  barber-surgeons  of  England  being 
regularly  chartered  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
This  institution  became  one  of  the  wealthy 
corporations  of  London,  and  flourished  for 
four  centuries,  and  it  was  not  until  1745  that  it 
became  separated  into  two  crafts,  that  of  the 
barbers  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  surgeons  on 
the  other.  Of  course,  there  resulted  from  the 
condition  of  things  during  this  period  a  bitter 
and  persistent  rivalry  between  the  barber- 
surgeons  and  the  chirurgeons.  This  spirit  of 
rivalry  was  early  manifested  in  New  Amster- 
dam, where  we  find  that  the  surgeons  of  the 
colony  seemed  to  consider  themselves  entitled 


Barber- 
Surgeons 


296 


TTbe  2>octor  in 


IRew 


ffirst 

flDcMcal 
Oifinancc 


to  the  exclusive  right  to  practise  on  shore. 
But  it  also  seems  evident  that  they  desired  to 
include  in  this  practice  the  art  of  shaving, 
while  the  barbers  of  ships  visiting  in  these 
waters  claimed  also  the  right  to  practise  on 
shore  while  their  ships  were  lying  in  har- 
bor. It  appears  that  the  ships'  barbers  had 
committed  a  number  of  mistakes  in  treatment 
while  on  shore,  although  there  was  no  reflec- 
tion cast  on  their  proficiency  with  the  razor. 
Hence,  as  a  result  of  this,  the  surgeons  of  the 
colony  sent  a  petition  to  the  Directors,  asking 
them  to  forbid  these  intruders  from  shaving 
people  on  shore.  The  action  of  the  Directors 
in  this  matter  is  the  first  ordinance,  I  believe, 
ever  passed  to  regulate  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  New  York.  It  is  a  curious  document, 
and  1  copy  it  in  full,  as  embodied  in  the  Dutch 
Records  of  the  island,  February  2,  1652  : 

"  On  the  petition  of  the  Chirurgeons  of  New  Amsterdam, 
that  none  but  they  alone  be  allowed  to  shave,  the  Director 
and  Council  understand  that  shaving  doth  not  appertain  ex- 
clusively to  chirurgery,  but  is  an  appendix  thereto  ;  that  no 
man  can  be  prevented  operating  on  himself  nor  to  do  another 
the  friendly  act,  provided  it  is  through  courtesy  and  not  for 
gain,  which  is  hereby  forbidden.  It  is  further  ordered  that 
ship  barbers  shall  not  be  allowed  to  dress  any  wounds  nor 
administer  any  potions  on  shore  without  the  previous  know- 
ledge and  special  consent  of  the  petitioners,  or  at  least  of 
Dr.  Montagne." 

During  the  latter  years  of  Stuyvesant's  in- 
cumbency, the  Company's  surgeon  was  the 


Ube  H>octor  in  (SHfc  IRew 


297 


before-mentioned  Master  Jacob  Hendrichsen 
Varvanger.  He  was  a  man  of  somewhat 
broader  humanity  than  his  fellows,  and  con- 
scientious in  the  performance  of  his  duty. 
He  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Company  for  a 
number  of  years  and  seems  to  have  become 
considerably  exercised  over  the  fact  that  the 
soldiers  and  other  employees  of  the  Company, 
when  sick,  could  not  have  that  care  and  at- 
tendance which  was  necessary  to  a  proper 
treatment  of  their  diseases.  He  says  in  a  re- 
port to  the  Director  and  Council,  December 
12,  1658, — 

"  He  is  sorry  to  learn  that  such  sick  people  must  suffer 
much  through  cold,  inconveniences,  and  the  untidiness  of 
the  people  who  have  taken  the  poor  fellows  into  their 
houses  where  bad  smells  and  filth  counteract  all  health-pro- 
ducing effects  of  the  medicaments  given  by  him,  the  surgeon. 
Death  has  been  the  result  of  it  in  several  cases  and  many 
deaths  will  follow. 

"  He  requests,  therefore,  that  by  order  of  the  Director  and 
Council  a  proper  place  may  be  arranged  for  the  reception  of 
such  patients,  to  be  taken  care  of  by  a  faithful  person,  who 
is  to  assist  them  bodily  with  food  and  fire  and  allow  soldiers 
to  pay  for  it  out  of  their  wages  and  rations,  Company's 
negroes  to  be  attended  at  Company's  expense  or  as  thought 
most  advisable." 

He  was  directed  to  look  up  such  a  place  and 
person  and  report. 

The  first  hospital  on  Manhattan  Island,  and 
probably  the  first  hospital  in  North  America, 
was  thus  established,  and  on  the  twentieth 


•Cbe  Jfirst 
•fcospital 


298 


Ube  JDoctor  in  ©Ifc  IRew  ]I)orfe 


Be. 

tfarvanger 


day  of  December,  1758,  Hilletje  Wilbruch,  the 
wife  of  Condil  Tubias  Wilbruch,  was  ap- 
pointed its  matron  at  a  yearly  salary  of  100 
florins.  It  became  known  as  the  Old  Hospital. 
It  was  sold  by  the  Governor,  in  1680,  for  ^200, 
after  it  had  become  unserviceable,  and  better 
buildings  were  supplied. 

The  first  coroner's  inquest  of  which  I  find 
record  in  the  Colony  was  held  in  February, 
1658,  by  this  same  Master  Varvanger,  with 

his   colleagues,  Kierstede   and  Jacob  N . 

It  seems  that  one  Bruyn  Barentsen  had  gotten 
into  a  brawl  with  Jacob  Eldersen  and  had  re- 
ceived a  severe  beating  at  his  hands,  of  which, 
apparently,  he  subsequently  died.  Eldersen 
was  acquitted,  however,  as  they  found  that  the 
beating  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  death,  for 
after  receiving  it  Bruyn  had  been  able  to  row 
across  to  Breuckelen. 

Some  suggestion  as  to  the  social  position  of 
the  doctor  at  this  time  is  found  in  the  enrol- 
ment of  the  citizens  of  New  Amsterdam  in 
1657,  when  Dr.  Varvanger's  name  is  absent 
from  the  "Great  Citizens,"  numbering  twenty, 
but  is  found  in  the  list  of  "Small  Citizens," 
numbering  204. 

The  first  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  author- 
ities to  regulate  the  practice  of  medicine  by 
official  enactment  we  have  noticed  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  barber-surgeons  in  1652.  In  1657, 
we  find  an  effort  made  to  enroll  the  doctors 


ZTbe  H>octor  in  ©It)  Hew  2!?orfe 


299 


or  to  compel  them  to  do  detective  work.  An 
ordinance  passed  by  the  Schout  and  Burgo- 
master and  Scheppens  gives  notice  to  all  chi- 
rurgeons  of  the  city,  that  when  they  are  called 
to  dress  a  wound  they  shall  ask  the  patient 
who  wounded  him,  and  that  information  be 
thereby  given  to  the  Schout.  If  these  gentle- 
men were  as  jealous  of  their  professional 
privileges  as  the  doctor  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  they  probably  took  a  firm  stand  in 
this  matter  and  declined  to  reveal  professional 
secrets.  These  two  enactments  are  the  only 
ones  which  we  find  recorded  as  having  been 
instituted  under  the  Dutch  regime.  Immedi- 
ately after  the  British  took  possession  of  the 
Colony,  a  curious  law  was  promulgated  by 
the  Duke  of  York  for  the  government  of  all 
the  lands  included  within  the  Duke's  patent, 
as  follows  : 

"  That  no  person  or  persons  whatever  employed  about 
the  bodys  of  men,  women,  or  children  for  the  preservation 
of  life  or  health  as  chirurgeons,  midwives,  physicians,  or 
others,  presume  to  put  forth  or  exercise  any  act  contrary  to 
the  known  approved  rule  of  art  in  each  mystery  or  occupa- 
tion, or  exercise  any  force,  violence,  or  cruelty  upon  or  to- 
wards the  body  of  any,  whether  young  or  old,  without  the 
advice  and  consent  of  such  as  are  skilful  in  the  same  art  (if 
such  may  be  had)  or  at  least  of  some  of  the  wisest  and  grav- 
est then  present,  and  consent  of  the  patient  or  patients  if 
they  be  mentis  compotes,  much  less  contrary  to  such  advice 
and  consent,  upon  such  severe  punishment  as  the  nature  of 
the  fact  may  deserve  ;  which  law,  nevertheless,  is  not  in- 
tended to  discourage  any  from  all  lawful  use  of  their  skill, 


Ube 
Stake  of 


finance 


300 


Ube  Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew 


mescal 
fees 


but  rather  to  encourage  and  direct  them  in  the  right  use 
thereof,  and  to  inhibit  and  restrain  the  presumptious  arro- 
gance of  such  as,  through  confidence  of  their  own  skill  or 
any  other  sinister  respects,  dare  boldly  attempt  to  exercise 
any  violence  upon  or  towards  the  body  of  young  or  old, 
one  or  another,  to  the  prejudice  or  hazard  of  the  life  or  limb 
of  man,  woman  or  child." 

The  fees  collected  by  the  doctors  of  this  day 
were  probably  very  small,  and  yet,  undoubt- 
edly, the  laity  were  oftentimes  subjected  to 
extortion  at  the  hands  of  quacks  and  ignorant 
pretenders,  and  while  we  have  no  legislative 
enactment  recorded  in  the  Dutch  colony  to 
counteract  this,  the  following  act,  passed  in 
the  Colony  of  Virginia  in  1645,  is  interesting, 
as  bearing  upon  the  point  : 

"  Whereas  by  the  pth  act  of  Assembly,  held  the  2 1st  of 
October,  1639,  consideration  being  had  and  taken  of  the 
immoderate  and  excessive  rates  and  prices  enacted  by  prac- 
titioners in  physick  and  chirurgery,  and  the  complaints  made 
to  the  then  assembly  of  the  bad  consequence  thereof,  it  so 
happening  through  the  said  intolerable  exactions  that  the 
hearts  of  divers  masters  were  hardened  rather  to  suffer  their 
servants  to  perish  for  want  of  fit  means  and  applications 
than  by  seeking  relief  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  griping  and 
avaricious  men ;  it  be  apprehended  by  such  masters,  who 
were  more  swayed  by  politick  respects  than  Xian  [Christian] 
duty  or  charity,  that  it  was  the  more  gainfull  and  saving 
way  to  stand  to  the  hazard  of  their  servants  than  to  enter- 
tain the  certain  charge  of  physitian  or  chirurgeon,  whose 
demands  for  the  most  parte  exceed  the  purchase  of  the  pa- 
tient ;  it  was  therefore  enacted,  for  the  better  redress  of  the 
like  abuses  thereafter,  untill  some  fitter  course  should  be  ad- 
vised on,  for  the  regulating  physitians  and  chirurgeons  within 


ZTbe  Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew  l^orfe 


the  Colony,  that  it  should  be  lawful  and  free  for  any  person 
or  persons  in  such  cases  where  they  should  conceive  the  JFees 
acc't  of  the  physitian  or  chirurgeon  to  be  unreasonable, 
either  for  his  pains  or  for  his  drugs  or  medicines,  to  arrest 
the  said  physitian  or  chirurgeon  either  to  the  quarter  court 
or  county  court  where  they  inhabitt,  where  the  said  physi- 
tian should  declare  upon  oath  the  true  value,  worth  and 
quantity  of  his  drugs  and  medicines  administered  to  or  for 
the  use  of  the  pit.  [patient]  whereupon  the  court  where  the 
matter  was  tryed  to  adjudge,  and  allow  to  the  said  physi- 
tian or  chirurgeon  such  satisfaction  and  reward  as  they  in 
their  discretions  should  think  fitt. 

"  And  it  was  further  ordered  that  when  it  should  be  suffi- 
ciently proved  in  any  of  the  said  courts  that  a  physitian  or 
chirurgeon  had  neglected  his  patient,  or  that  he  had  refused, 
being  thereunto  required,  his  helpe  or  assistance  to  any  per- 
son or  persons  in  sickness  or  extremity,  that  the  said  physi- 
tian or  chirurgeon  should  be  censured  by  the  said  court  for 
such  his  neglect  or  refusal,  which  said  act,  and  every  clause 
therein  mentioned  and  repeated,  this  present  grand  assembly 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  doth  revive,  ratifie,  allow  and 
confirme,  with  this  only  exception  that  the  pits,  [or  pa- 
tients] shall  have  their  remedy  at  the  county  courts  respect- 
ively, unless  in  case  of  appeal." 

And  how  much  the  fees  were  at  this  time 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  this  same 
colony  only  a  hundred  years  later  passed  an 
act  making  the  highest  fee  for  every  visit  or 
prescription  in  town,  or  within  five  miles,  five 
shillings,  and  for  every  mile  above  five,  six- 
pence. Curiously  enough,  it  was  further  en- 
acted that  any  person  who  had  studied  physic 
in  the  university,  and  had  taken  a  degree 
therein,  be  allowed  to  charge  double  the 
above  amounts. 


302 


Ztbe  2>octor  in 


Hew 


Cbc  first 
36urial» 

OrounS 


The  first  burial-ground  in  New  York  was 
situated  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  on 
the  rise  of  ground  above  the  Bowling  Green, 
and  not  far  north  of  the  present  Morris  Street. 
This  ancient  churchyard  had  become  very  full 
in  1665.  In  1656,  Governor  Stuyvesant  had 
proposed  to  abandon  it  as  a  place  of  burial, 
and  desired  instead  to  tear  down  houses  south 
of  the  fort,  (the  first  was  the  plot  bounded  by 
Bowling  Green,  Whitehall  Bridge,  and  State 
Street,)  and  make  a  burial-place  there.  The 
citizens  suggested  the  establishment  of  a  place 
on  the  hill  west  of  the  fort,  near  a  windmill 
(part  of  the  present  Battery),  which  they  de- 
scribed as  a  good  hill,  clear  of  timber.  No- 
thing was  done  till  1665,  when  a  new  fence 
was  put  up,  and  the  old  graveyard,  which 
had  for  some  time  prior  lain  quite  open  to 
the  encroachment  of  animals  along  the  streets, 
was  enclosed. 

"In  1676  or  1677  the  old  church  yard  was 
divided  up  into  four  lots  each  25  x  100  and 
sold  at  auction,  the  new  burial  place  being 
established  near  Trinity  Church." 

As  the  colony  grew  in  numbers  and  pros- 
perity under  the  English  administration  we  find 
at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  a 
flourishing  village  of  five  thousand  inhabitants 
and  its  doctors  becoming  men  of  more  liberal 
education  and  wider  culture.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  enumerate  all  who  practised  here  at  this 


Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew  U>orfe 


time,  but  certain  names  stand  out  more  pro- 
minently and  are  worthy  of  note.  John  Van 
Buren,  a  native  of  Buren,  near  Amsterdam, 
came  to  New  York  early  in  1700,  having  stud- 
ied under  the  celebrated  Boerhave  and  taken 
his  degree  at  Leyden  University.  He  occu- 
pied a  prominent  position  in  the  colony,  and 
his  son,  Beekman  Van  Buren,  who  was  born 
in  1727,  succeeded  him  in  his  practice,  becom- 
ing the  progenitor  of  the  large  family  of  that 
name  scattered  throughout  the  United  States. 
Another  prominent  physician  of  the  day  was 
Dr.  Cadwallader  Golden,  who  was  born  in 
Scotland,  and  graduated  at  the  University  of 
Edinburgh  in  1705.  Having  studied  medicine, 
he  spent  ten  years  in  practice  in  Philadelphia, 
when  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Hunter 
to  the  position  of  Surveyor-General  of  the 
New  York  Colony.  He  was  not  only  an  ac- 
complished physician  and  writer,  but  also  an 
eminent  naturalist,  his  writings  on  botanical 
subjects  showing  a  remarkable  familiarity  with 
this  science.  He  moreover  is  said  to  have  col- 
lected and  described  between  three  and  four 
hundred  new  plants  in  America.  He  wrote  a 
history  of  the  Five  Nations,  besides  various 
papers  on  medical  subjects,  and  held  the  posi- 
tion of  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1761,  and  again 
in  1765.  He  died  in  1766. 

Dr.  Isaac  Du  Bois,  also  a  graduate  of  Ley- 
den,  practised  here  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 


pros 
mfncnt 


ciane 


3°4 


2>octor  in 


IRew 


pro* 
mfnent 


cians 


century.  He  is  notable,  I  think,  in  having 
contributed  an  excellent  paper  on  the  subject 
of  blood-letting,  in  which  he  discoursed  rather 
vigorously  upon  its  abuse,  as  well  as  its  use. 
Another  practitioner  of  the  day  was  Dr.  John 
Nichol,  who  died  in  1745,  after  having  prac- 
tised in  this  city  for  nearly  half  a  century. 
He  divided  his  duties  to  his  patients  with  oc- 
cupying a  position  on  the  Bench  in  Governor 
Leisler's  time.  Dr.  John  Dupuy,  who  died  in 
1745,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  seems  to 
have  attained  a  somewhat  enviable  position 
in  the  Colony  for  so  young  a  man,  if  we  may 
believe  the  following  notice  outlined  in  The 
Weekly  Postboy  of  that  year:  "Last  night, 
Sunday,  July  2ist,  died  in  the  prime  of  life  to 
the  almost  universal  regret  and  sorrow  of  the 
City,  Mr.  John  Dupuy,  M.D.,  and  man  mid- 
wife, in  which  loss  it  may  be  truly  said,  as  of 
Goliah's  sword,  'there  was  none  like  unto 
him.'" 

Among  others  of  this  period  were  Frank 
Brinley,  who  was  surgeon  to  the  New  York 
troops  during  the  French  and  Indian  War; 
Ebenezer  Crosby,  a  surgeon  in  the  Con- 
tinental Army,  who  settled  in  the  city  after 
the  close  of  the  war  and  became  a  professor 
in  Columbia  College;  and  Charles  McKnight, 
another  surgeon  in  the  Continental  Army, 
who  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1761,  and 
settled  in  the  city  after  the  close  of  the  war, 


Boctor  in  ©ID  1Rew  12orfc 


and  also  became  a  professor  of  anatomy.  It 
is  said  that  Dr.  McKnight  was  the  first  physi- 
cian who  ever  made  use  of  a  carriage  in  his 
round  of  visits  to  patients. 

Dr.  John  Bard,  a  native  of  New  York,  who 
was  born  in  1716,  attained  notable  eminence 
in  the  profession  in  his  day.  He  studied  under 
Dr.  Kearsley,  a  prominent  English  physician, 
and  settled  in  New  York  in  1746.  He  prac- 
tised his  profession  here  for  fifty-two  years, 
and  was  the  first  president  of  the  Medical  So- 
ciety of  New  York,  which  was  organized  in 
1788.  He  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  and  in  connection  with 
Dr.  Middleton,  in  1750,  performed  the  second 
dissection  of  a  human  cadaver  recorded  in 
America.  His  son,  Dr.  Samuel  Bard,  who 
was  born  in  1742,  after  graduating  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh  commenced  the  practice 
of  medicine  in  this  city  in  1765.  In  1769,  Dr. 
Bard  started  the  first  agitation  in  favor  of  the 
erection  of  a  public  hospital,  which  was  finally 
successful,  and  was  also  one  of  the  professors 
and  associated  in  organizing  the  first  medical 
school  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1757.  He 
was  Washington's  physician  during  the  Gen- 
eral's residence  in  this  city. 

Richard  Bailey  practised  in  the  city  until  his 
death  in  1801.  He  published  a  number  of  in- 
teresting essays  on  yellow  fever,  which  had 
devastated  the  city  on  so  many  different  occa- 


Bc. 
Samuel 

JBart 


306 


Ube  JDoctor  in  ©l&  IRew  Jl)orfe 


2>r.  3obn 
Jonea 


sions  during  the  seventeenth  century,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  physicians  to 
make  a  specialty  in  this  city  of  obstetrical  prac- 
tice. Dr.  Nicholas  Romaine,  who  was  born  in 
1 766  and  died  in  1 8 1 7,  was  one  of  the  presidents 
of  the  New  York  City  Medical  Society,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  a  fine  scholar  and  an  active 
promoter  of  all  educational  measures.  Dr. 
Samuel  Colossy,  an  Irish  physician  who  set- 
tled for  a  time  in  New  York,  has  left  a  name 
behind  him  as  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
first  medical  college  in  the  city,  in  which  he 
held  the  chair  of  Professor  of  Anatomy.  An- 
other of  the  professors  of  this  college  was 
Peter  Middleton,  a  Scotch  physician,  already 
referred  to  as  having  assisted  Dr.  Bard  in  his 
dissection. 

In  looking  over  the  brief  records  of  the 
eighteenth-century  doctors  of  New  York,  I 
find  no  one  who  has  inspired  in  me  a  warmer 
personal  interest  and  admiration  than  Dr. 
John  Jones,  the  son  of  Dr.  Evan  Jones.  His 
father  and  grandfather  were  physicians  before 
him.  He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Cadwalla- 
der  Golden,  of  Philadelphia,  and  subsequently 
went  to  London  and  from  thence  to  France, 
where  he  obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medi- 
cine from  the  University  of  Rheims,  and  still 
later  studied  at  the  Universities  of  Leyden  and 
of  Edinburgh.  On  returning  to  New  York  he 
was  made  a  professor  of  surgery  in  the  Col- 


ZTbe  H>octor  in  ©l&  TRew 


307 


lege  of  New  York.  His  life  seems  to  have 
been  an  extraordinarily  busy  one.  He  built 
up  a  large  practice,  which  necessarily  oc- 
cupied much  of  his  time,  and  yet  he  was  a 
large  contributor  to  medical  as  well  as  general 
literature,  and  was  a  busy  lecturer  and  clinical 
demonstrator.  He  became  a  warm  personal 
friend  of  both  Washington  and  Franklin.  He 
died  at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  An  event  in  the 
early  part  of  his  career  is  interesting  as  throw- 
ing a  certain  light  on  the  times  in  which  he 
lived,  as  well  as  showing  the  essential  dignity 
of  his  character.  Some  of  the  physicians  en- 
tered into  a  compact  to  distinguish  themselves 
from  the  rest  of  their  fellow-citizens  by  a  par- 
ticular mode  of  wearing  their  hair.  Among  the 
rest,  it  was  proposed  to  Dr.  Jones,  who  indig- 
nantly and  very  properly  declined  to  enter  into 
any  such  arrangement,  declaring  that  he  con- 
sidered that  and  every  similar  means  to  impose 
upon  the  weakness  or  credulity  of  others,  as 
unworthy  the.  members  of  a  liberal  profession, 
and  as  intended  to  enforce  that  attention  and 
respect  which  their  own  conduct  and  abilities 
should  always  command.  While  the  other 
doctors  in  the  town,  therefore,  were  strutting 
about  in  the  new-fashioned  bob,  Dr.  Jones 
could  not  be  distinguished  from  any  well- 
bred  gentleman  of  any  other  profession.  Of 
course  an  attempt  was  made  to  boycott  Dr. 
Jones  by  a  plan  not  altogether  unfamiliar  to 


Jones 


3o8 


Ube  Boctor  in  ©l&  IRew  |?orfe 


/BeMcal 

Ordinance 

of  1760 


physicians  now  living,  namely  by  refusing  to 
consult  with  him.  The  result  was  as  might 
have  been  expected:  on  the  first  occasion  in 
which  this  plan  was  brought  into  practice  the 
physician  who  refused  to  consult  with  Dr. 
Jones  was  promptly  dismissed,  and  Dr.  Jones 
installed  in  his  place. 

This  brief  review  of  the  New  York  doctor 
of  this  day,  I  think,  gives  us  a  fair  estimate  of 
his  personality,  abilities,  and  practice.  But 
we  have  referred  only  to  the  regular  prac- 
titioner. That  the  country  was  overrun  by 
ignorant  pretenders,  we  have  ample  evidence 
by  the  numerous  diatribes  against  them  in  the 
secular  press.  One  writer,  speaking  of  this 
condition,  tells  us  that  "  quacks  abound  like 
locusts  in  Egypt."  But  these  arise  in  all  com- 
munities and  possess  no  especial  points  of 
interest  in  this  connection,  except  that  their 
existence  led  to  legal  enactment  for  their  sup- 
pression, for  with  the  exception  of  the  Duke 
of  York  ordinance  of  1664  (already  quoted),  no 
attempt  was  made  to  protect  the  community 
from  these  irregular  practitioners  until  1760, 
when  the  following  law  was  passed  : 

"  An  Act  to  regulate  the  practice  of  Physick  &  Surgery 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  June  10,  1760. 

"  Whereas  many  ignorant  and  unskilful  Persons  in  Phy- 
sick and  Surgery  in  order  to  gain  a  Subsistence  do  take  upon 
themselves  to  administer  Physick  and  practice  Surgery  in 
the  City  of  New  York  to  the  endangering  of  the  Lives  & 
Limbs  of  their  Patients ;  and  many  poor  &  ignorant  persons 


5>octor  in  ©to  IRew  JjJorfe 


inhabiting  the  said  City  who  have  been  persuaded  to  be- 
come their  Patients  have  been  great  sufferers  thereby  ;  For 
preventing  such  abuses  for  the  future, 

"  Be  it  Enacted  by  his  Honor,  the  Lieutenant  Governor, 
&  the  General  Assembly,  and  it  is  hereby  Enacted  by  the 
Authority  of  the  same,  That  from  &  after  the  Publication 
of  this  Act,  no  Person  whatsoever  shall  practice  as  a  Physi- 
cian or  surgeon  in  the  said  City  of  New  York  before  he  shall 
first  have  been  examined  in  Physick  or  Surgery  and  approved 
of  and  admitted  by  one  of  His  Majesty's  Council,  the 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  King's  Attorney  General 
and  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York  for  the  time  being, 
or  by  any  three  or  more  of  them,  taking  to  their  assistance 
for  such  Examination  such  proper  person  or  persons  as  they 
in  their  discretion  shall  think  fit.  And  if  any  Candidate 
after  due  Examination  of  his  learning  and  Skill  in  Physick 
or  Surgery  as  aforesaid  shall  be  approved  and  admitted  to 
practice  as  a  Physician  or  Surgeon,  or  both,  the  said  Exam- 
iners, or  any  three  or  more  of  them,  shall  give  under  their 
Hands  and  Seals  to  the  Person  so  admitted  as  aforesaid,  a 
Testimonial  of  his  Examination  &  Admission  in  the  form 
following,  to  wit — 

"  To  All  To  Whom  These  "Presents  Shall  Come  Or  May 
Concern  Know  Ye 

"  That  We  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed  in  pur- 
suance of  An  Act  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  the  Council 
and  the  General  Assembly,  made  and  published  at  New  York 

the day  of in  the  year  of  our  Lord  One  thousand 

seven  hundred  and Entitled  AN  ACT  to  regulate  the 

Practice  of  Physick  &  Surgery  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
have  duely  Examined of Physician  [or]  Sur- 
geon [or]  Physician  and  Surgeon  [as  the  case  may  be]  and 
having  approved  of  his  Skill  have  admitted  him  as  a  Physi- 
cian [or]  Surgeon  [or]  Physician  and  Surgeon,  to  practice  in 
the  said  Faculty  [or]  Faculties  throughout  this  province  of 
New  York.  IN  TESTIMONY  whereof  we  have  subscribed 
our  Names  and  affixed  our  Seals  to  the  Instrument  at  New 


ADeMcal 
OrMnnncc 
Of  1760 


3io 


Doctor  in  ©lo  flew 


Ordinance 
of  1760 


York  this 
sand 


day  of 


Anno  Domini  One  Thou- 


"AND  be  it  further  Enacted  by  the  Authority  aforesaid 
that  if  any  Person  shall  practice  in  the  City  of  New  York  as 
a  Physician  or  Surgeon  or  both  as  Physician  and  Surgeon 
without  such  testimonial  as  aforesaid  he  shall  for  every  such 
offence  forfeit  the  sum  of  five  pounds,  One  half  thereof  to 
the  use  of  the  Person  or  Persons  who  shall  sue  for  the  same, 
and  the  other  Moiety  to  the  Church  Wardens  and  Vestry- 
men of  the  said  City  for  the  use  of  the  Poor  thereof,  the  said 
Forfeiture  to  be  recovered  with  costs  before  the  Mayor,  Re- 
corder or  any  one  of  the  Aldermen  of  the  said  City  who  are 
hereby  empowered  in  a  summary  way  to  hear  try  and  de- 
termine any  suit  brought  for  such  forfeiture,  and  to  give 
Judgment  and  to  award  Execution  thereupon. 

PROVIDED  that  this  Act  shall  not  extend  to  any  Person 
or  Persons  administering  Physick  or  Practicing  Surgery 
within  the  said  City  before  the  Publication  hereof ;  Or  to 
any  Person  bearing  His  Majesty's  Commission  and  employed 
in  His  Service  as  a  Physician  or  Surgeon." 

The  fees  of  the  doctor  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury do  not  appear  to  have  increased  propor- 
tionately to  the  growth  of  the  town,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  following  account  ren- 
dered by  Dr.  William  Laurence  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  century : 


To  inoculating  a  child 

To  a  visit  and  a  Calomel  bolus 

To  a  bottle  of  Black  Water 

To  a  visit,  sewing  up  ye  boy's  lip  \ 

and  to  sundry  dressings  in  the  > 

cure  of  it 


£   s.    d. 

2       8 

4 
16 


Ube  HJoctor  in  ©ID 1Re\v 


To  rising  in  the  night,  a  visit  and  ) 
dose  of  Calomel  ye  child  ) 

To  five  visits  dressing  gave  ye 
head  and  bleeding 

To  a  puke 

To  drawing  a  tooth 


£ 


A  writer  in  the  Independent  ^Reflector  in 
1753,  referring  to  New  York,  says:  "That 
place  boasts  the  honor  of  above  40  gentlemen 
of  the  faculty,  and  far  the  greater  number  of 
them  are  mere  pretenders  to  a  profession  of 
which  they  are  entirely  ignorant."  That  this 
latter  statement  is  a  grossly  unjust  charge,  1 
need  not  affirm,  for  while  one  cannot  always 
regard  the  seventeenth-century  doctor  as  seri- 
ously as  he  seems  to  have  taken  himself,  we 
find  in  his  successor  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury a  broader  culture,  a  deeper  appreciation 
of  the  essential  dignity  of  his  calling,  and  a 
far  better  preparation  and  equipment  for  his 
duties.  When  we  remember  that  at  the  end 
of  the  second  third  of  the  eighteenth  century 
New  York  was  a  somewhat  rude  little  town 
of  about  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  we 
cannot  but  accord  respect  to  the  doctors  of 
the  period,  and  admiration  for  the  great  fore- 
sight and  broad-minded  humanity  which  char- 
acterized the  enterprises  inaugurated  by  them 
for  the  public  good. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  Dr.  Bard.     In 


cfans  of 

tbe  Eiabt= 

eentb 

Ccnturg 


ZTbe  Boctor  in 


1Re\v 


Organ* 
ijatton  of 

flDeMcal 

College  in 

1768 


1768,  there  was  organized  in  connection  with 
King's  College,  now  Columbia  College,  the 
second  medical  college  in  the  New  World,  the 
first  having  been  organized  in  Philadelphia  in 
1765.  It  arose  apparently  by  a  voluntary  com- 
bination on  the  part  of  a  number  of  gentlemen 
who  had  already  been  engaged  in  giving  pri- 
vate instruction.  Its  faculty  consisted  of  Drs. 
Middleton,  on  the  Theory  of  Physic,  Colossy 
on  Anatomy,  Bard  on  the  Practice  of  Physic, 
James  Smith  on  Chemistry  and  Materia 
Medica,  J.  V.  B.  Tennant  on  Midwifery,  and 
J.  Jones,  Professor  of  Surgery.  In  1769,  Co- 
lumbia College  had  conferred  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Medicine  upon  Samuel  Kissam 
and  Robert  Tucker,  but  in  1770  the  first  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Medicine  conferred  in  New 
York  was  given  to  Kissam,  while  Tucker  re- 
ceived his  Doctor's  degree  in  the  following 
May.  These  were  the  first  medical  degrees 
ever  conferred  in  America,  antedating  by  a  few 
weeks  only  those  which  were  given  at  Phila- 
delphia. On  the  delivering  of  Kissam's  and 
Tucker's  degrees  in  1769,  Doctor  Samuel  Bard 
made  a  popular  address,  in  which  he  advo- 
cated the  utility  and  necessity  of  a  public  in- 
firmary. So  "warmly  and  pathetically,"  as 
Dr.  Middleton  tells  us,  was  the  need  set  forth, 
that  a  subscription  was  immediately  started, 
headed  by  Sir  Henry  Moore,  then  Governor  of 
the  Province,  and  the  sum  of  ,£800  sterling 


ZTbe  S>octor  in 


IRew 


was  collected  for  the  furtherance  of  this  pur- 
pose, ^300  being  added  by  the  corporation  of 
the  city. 

The  establishment  of  the  New  York  Hos- 
pital was  thus  assured  and  its  corner-stone 
was  accordingly  laid,  on  July  27,  1773.  It  had 
just  reached  its  completion  in  1775,  when  it 
was  destroyed  by  fire.  The  Revolutionary 
War  coming  on  prevented  any  attempt  to  re- 
establish it  until  later  years.  Many  of  those 
still  living  will  recall  its  sequestered  court,  and 
ivy-covered  walls,  into  which  one  cast  a  rest- 
ful glance  while  passing  through  the  crowded 
streets  of  lower  Broadway  a  few  years  ago. 
Its  destruction  to  make  way  for  the  encroach- 
ment of  business,  and  its  removal  to  i^th 
Street  are  of  comparatively  recent  date.  The 
medical  and  anatomical  instruction  which  was 
given  in  that  old  building,  was  the  direct  cause 
of  an  event,  which,  for  a  time,  seriously  inter- 
rupted that  cordial  good-feeling  which,  in  a 
notable  degree,  has  always  existed  between 
the  medical  profession  and  the  laity,  as  the 
doctor  usually  calls  the  non-medical  "rest  of 
the  world."  The  event  referred  to  was  the 
Doctors  Riot,  in  1788,  the  third  great  riot 
which  had  occurred  in  the  history  of  New 
York,  the  first  being  the  Negro  Riot  in  1712, 
and  the  second  being  the  Stamp  Act  Riot  in 
1765.  The  following  account  is  the  more  in- 
teresting, perhaps,  as  being  contemporaneous: 


JEstafcs 
lisbment 

of  the 
«ew  Korh 
fjoepital 


Boctor  in  <§>l&  flew 


Ubc 

IDoctore 

•Riot 


"  During  the  last  winter,  some  students  of  physic,  and 
other  persons,  had  dug  up  from  several  of  the  cemeteries  in 
this  city,  a  number  of  dead  bodies  for  dissection.  This  prac- 
tice had  been  conducted  in  so  indecent  a  manner,  that  it 
raised  a  considerable  clamor  among  the  people.  The  inter- 
ments not  only  of  strangers,  and  the  blacks,  had  been  dis- 
turbed, but  the  corpses  of  some  respectable  persons  were 
removed.  These  circumstances  most  sensibly  agitated  the 
feelings  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  and  wrought  up  the 
passions  of  the  populace  to  a  ferment. 

"On  Sunday,  the  13th  inst.,  a  number  of  boys,  we  are 
informed,  who  were  playing  in  the  rear  of  the  Hospital,  per- 
ceived a  limb  which  was  imprudently  hung  out  of  a  window 
to  dry  ;  they  immediately  informed  some  persons — a  multi- 
tude soon  collected — entered  the  Hospital  ;  and,  in  their 
fury  destroyed  a  number  of  anatomical  preparations  ;  some 
of  which,  we  are  told,  were  imported  from  foreign  countries 
— one  or  two  fresh  subjects  were  also  found — all  of  which 
were  interred  the  same  evening.  Several  young  doctors 
narrowly  escaped  the  fury  of  the  people  ;  and  would  inevit- 
ably have  suffered  very  seriously  had  not  his  Honor,  the 
Mayor,  the  Sheriff,  and  some  other  persons  interfered,  and 
rescued  them,  by  lodging  them  in  gaol.  The  friends  to 
good  order,  hoped  that  the  affair  would  have  ended  here  ; 
but  they  were  unhappily  mistaken. 

"  On  Monday  morning  a  number  of  people  collected,  and 
were  determined  to  search  the  houses  of  the  suspected 
physicians.  His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  His  Honor,  the 
Chancellor,  and  His  Worship,  the  Mayor,  finding  that  the 
passions  of  the  people  were  irritated,  went  among  them, 
and  endeavoured  to  dissuade  them  from  committing  un- 
necessary depredations.  They  addressed  the  people  pathet- 
ically, and  promised  them  every  satisfaction  which  the 
laws  of  the  country  can  give.  This  had  considerable  effect 
upon  many  ;  who,  after  examining  the  houses  of  the  sus- 
pected doctors  returned  to  their  homes.  But,  in  the  after- 
noon the  affair  assumed  a  different  aspect.  A  mob,  more 


H>octor  in  ©ID  IRew  H)orfe 


315 


fond  of  riot  and  confusion  than  a  reliance  upon  the  promises 
of  the  Magistrates,  and  obedience  to  the  laws,  went  to  the 
gaol,  and  demanded  the  doctors  who  were  there  imprisoned. 
The  Magistrates  finding  that  the  mild  language  of  persua- 
sion was  of  no  avail,  were  obliged  to  order  out  the  militia, 
to  suppress  the  riot,  to  maintain  the  government,  and  pro- 
tect the  gaol.  A  small  party  of  about  18  armed  men 
assembled  at  3  o'clock,  and  marched  thither — the  mob 
permitted  them  to  pass  through  with  no  other  insult  than 
a  few  volleys  of  stones,  dirt,  &c.  Another  party  of  about 
12  men,  about  an  hour  afterwards  made  a  similar  attempt, 
but  having  no  orders  to  resist,  the  mob  surrounded  them, 
seized  and  destroyed  their  arms.  This  gave  the  mobility 
fresh  courage — they  then  endeavoured  to  force  the  gaol,  but 
were  repulsed  by  a  handful  of  men,  who  bravely  sustained 
an  attack  of  several  hours.  They  then  destroyed  the  win- 
dows of  that  building  with  stones,  and  tore  down  part  of 
the  fence.  At  dusk  another  party  of  armed  citizens  marched 
to  the  relief  of  the  gaol  ;  and  as  they  approached  it,  the  mob, 
huzzaring,  began  a  heavy  fire  with  stones,  brick-bats,  etc. ; 
several  of  this  party  were  much  hurt,  and  in  their  own 
defense  were  obliged  to  fire  ;  upon  which  three  or  four 
persons  were  killed,  and  a  number  wounded.  The  mob 
shortly  after  dispersed. 

"On  Tuesday  morning  the  militia  of  General  Malcom's 
brigade,  and  Col.  Bauman's  regiment  of  artillery  were 
ordered  out ;  and  a  detachment  from  each  were  under  arms 
during  that  day,  and  the  subsequent  night.  But  happily 
the  mob  did  not  again  collect,  and  the  peace  of  the  city 
is  once  more  restored. 

"  It  must  give  pleasure  to  every  good  citizen  to  observe, 
by  the  charge  of  our  worthy  Chief  Justice  to  the  Grand 
Jury,  that  '  our  laws  are  competent  to  punish  any  degree 
of  guilt.'  This  being  the  fact,  every  friend  to  the  State 
will  patiently  wait  their  operation  ;  and  obedience  to  the 
laws,  are  their  principal  securities  for  the  safe  and  quiet 
enjoyment  of  life,  liberty  and  property.  But,  from  mobs, 


Ttbe 

•Doctors 
tftiot 


3i6 


Doctor  in  ©lo  IRew 


Sbe 

Doctors 
•Riot 


riots,   and   confusion,    'may  the   Good  Lord  deliver  us.'" 
— New  York  Packet,  Friday,  April  25,  1788. 

Among  the  injured  on  the  second  day  of 
the  rioting  were  old  Baron  Steuben  and  John 
Jay,  who  were  struck  by  missiles  while  at- 
tempting to  pacify  the  rioters. 

We  have  reviewed  briefly  the  practice  and 
personality  of  the  seventeenth-century  and 
of  the  eighteenth-century  doctor.  The  nine- 
teenth-century doctor,  with  his  various  ac- 
tivities and  acquirements,  comes  so  closely 
within  the  memory  and  knowledge  of  the 
present  generation  that  we  refrain  from  enter- 
ing upon  any  discussion  of  his  many  virtues. 
This  we  do  mainly  because  it  is  not  within 
the  province  of  this  paper  ;  but  were  it  so, 
it  would  surely  be  a  most  pleasing  task  to 
record  the  marvellous  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  building  so  well  upon  the  founda- 
tions which  were  laid  by  the  many  earnest 
workers  of  the  eighteenth,  and  which  have 
gone  so  far  towards  creating  out  of  the  old 
mass  of  ignorance  and  superstition  a  true 
science  of  medicine. 


Ube  Doctor  in  ©ID  IRew  Ji)orfc 


31? 


REFERENCES. 


JAMBS   THACHER,    M.D., 
JOSEPH 


American   Medical  Biography. 

Boston,  1828. 
Contribution  to  the  Annals  of  Medical  "Progress. 

M.  TONER,  M.D.,  Washington,  1874. 
Old  New  York.     Historical  Discourse.     JOHN  W.  FRANCIS, 

M.D.,  New  York,   1866. 

A  Book  about  Doctors.     ].  C.  JEAFFRESON,  London,  1860. 
Curiosities  of  Medical  Experience.  }.  G.  MILLINGEN,  M.D., 

London,  1839. 

Historic  Tales  of  Olden  Times.    }.  F.  WATSON. 
American  Medical  and  Philosophical  Register. 
BRODHEAD'S  History  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
VALENTINE'S  Manual  of  the  Common  Council  of  New  York. 
New  York  Independent  Reflector. 
HENING'S  Statutes  at  Large. 

Ancient  Charter  and  Laws  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
E.  B.  O'CALLAGHAN'S  History  of  the  New  Netherlands. 
Documentary  History  of  New  York. 
Medical  Repository. 

LAMB'S  History  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
STONE'S  History  of  New  York  City.     New  York,  1872. 
New  York  Gazette. 
New  York  Packet. 
New  York  Journal. 
Daily  Advertiser. 
New  York  Ga^eteer. 


•(References 


EARLY  SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS 


319 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  IX. 


EARLY  SCHOOLS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS 
OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM. 

BY  EMMA  VAN  VECHTEN. 

DURING  the  first  few  years  after  the  found- 
ing of  New  Amsterdam  little  attention 
was  paid  to  the  education  of  the  children. 
The  West  India  Company  regarded  the  settle- 
ment in  the  light  of  a  trading-post  rather  than 
of  a  colony  and  was  bent  on  receiving  rather 
than  giving  privileges.1  Although  it  had  made 
vague  promises  guaranteeing  to  settlers  many 
advantages,  spiritual  and  material,  it  was  in  no 
haste  to  redeem  its  pledges.  The  settlers  for 
their  part  were  so  much  occupied  with  plant- 
ing grain,  raising  their  thatch-roofed  cottages, 
and  repairing  their  rickety  old  fort,  that  the 
children  were  neglected  and  roamed  unvexed 
of  schoolmasters,  in  ignorance  and  bliss,  along 
the  banks  of  the  broad  canal,  or  clambered 
across  the  rocks  of  the  Capske  at  low  tide. 

So  things  went  on  for  seven  years  ;  then 
came  a  change.     The  spring  of  1633  opened 


321 


Ube  f  iret 
few  ]3ears 


322 


Barlp  Scbools  ant)  Scboolmasters 


Etam 

•Roclanta 

sen 


propitiously  for  the  little  colony.  Surely  it 
promised  great  things  that  the  same  year 
should  bring  to  the  settlement  a  new  gov- 
ernor, a  new  minister,  and  a  new  school- 
master, the  first  who  had  ever  set  foot  in  the 
colony.  Yet  it  was  but  a  very  short  time  be- 
fore the  new  Governor  had  earned  his  title 
of  "Walter,  the  Waverer,"  before  the  new 
domine,  Everardus  Bogardus,  proved  himself 
a  quarrelsome  shepherd,  and  the  new  school- 
master had  shown  his  unfitness  to  train  the 
youthful  burghers  of  New  Amsterdam  either  in 
wisdom  or  virtue. 

The  career  of  Adam  Roelantsen,  this  first 
pedagogue  of  New  Amsterdam,  was  a  check- 
ered one,  and  hardly  bears  inspection,  if  we 
wish  to  believe  in  the  worth  of  the  founder  of 
our  schools.  Valentine  gives  a  sad  account  of 
his  misdoings,  and  though  that  Froissart  of  our 
city  chronicles  is  generally  to  be  taken  with 
many  grains  of  caution,  in  this  instance  he  is 
so  reinforced  by  the  court  records  that  his 
testimony  must  be  accepted  as  in  the  main 
fair  and  just. 

Roelantsen  was  born  in  Dokkum,  a  city  of 
Northern  Holland,  in  1606,"  and  was  therefore 
twenty-seven  years  old  at  the  time  he  landed 
in  New  Amsterdam.  Within  a  few  years 
after  his  arrival  he  had  entered  upon  his  turbu- 
lent and  litigious  experiences.  On  September 
20,  1638,  we  find  a  suit  before  the  court  in 


Schools  ano  Schoolmasters 


323 


which  Roelantsen  figures  as  plaintiff  against 
Gillis  de  Voocht,  on  a  demand  for  payment  for 
washing  defendant's  linen.  The  defendant 
made  no  objection  to  the  price  asked  ;  but 
claimed  that  Roelantsen  had  agreed  to  do  the 
washing  by  the  year,  and  that  time  being  not 
yet  expired,  the  payment  was  not  due.  The 
court  held  with  the  defendant,  and  Roelantsen 
was  compelled  to  subsist  till  the  end  of  his  con- 
tract upon  his  professional  stipend,  which  was 
unquestionably  meagre.  In  the  same  year  the 
schoolmaster  appeared  again  in  the  courts, 
making  affidavit  this  time  against  Grietje 
Reyners  for  misconduct.  He  soon  had  occa- 
sion to  prove  the  truth  of  the  proverb  of  his  race 
— Wie  %ijn  buren  beledigt  maakt  het  %ich  %el- 
•ven  daarna  %uur  (He  who  slanders  his 
neighbors  makes  it  sour  for  himself),  for  when 
he  undertook  to  circulate  evil  reports  touch- 
ing Jochem  Haller's  wife,  that  angry  burgher 
haled  him  before  the  court  on  a  charge  of 
slander.  Roelantsen  in  his  turn  accused 
various  people  of  slander,  though  it  is  hard  to 
see  what  fiction  worse  than  truth  could  have 
been  invented  about  him  by  his  neighbors. 

No  wonder  the  old  record  states  that  "peo- 
ple did  not  speak  well  of  him."  In  spite  of  his 
reputation,  however,  he  succeeded  in  marry- 
ing a  widow  presumably  possessed  of  some 
property,  as  we  hear  no  more  of  his  taking  in 
washing,  and  in  1642,  after  his  return  from  a 


•Roelant- 
sen 


324 


Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


Bfam 

tteelant. 

sen 


temporary  sojourn  in  Rensselaerswyck,  we 
read  of  the  following  contract  made  by  him 
for  a  house  to  be  built  on  the  north  side  of 
Brouwer  Street,  between  Whitehall  and  Broad, 
and  next  door  but  one  to  Van  Courtlandt's 
brewery.  By  the  terms  of  the  contract  "John 
Teunison  agrees  to  build  the  same  of  the  fol- 
lowing dimensions  :  In  length  thirty  feet,  in 
width  eighteen  feet,  in  height  eight  feet  ;  the 
beams  to  be  hewn  at  four  sides,  the  house  to 
be  well  and  tight  clapboarded  and  roofed  with 
substantial  reed  thatch  ;  the  floors  tight  and 
made  of  clapboard  ;  two  doors,  one  entry,  a 
pantry,  a  bed-stead,  a  staircase  to  go  to  the 
garret  ;  the  upper  part  of  the  chimneys  to  be 
of  wood  ;  one  mantelpiece  ;  the  entry  to  be 
three  feet  wide  with  a  partition.  The  house 
to  be  ready  by  ist  of  May  next." 

For  the  building  of  this  house  Roelantsen 
agreed  to  pay  three  hundred  and  fifty  guilders 
($140),  half  payment  to  be  made  when  the 
timber  was  brought,  and  the  rest  when  the 
house  was  finished. 

This  appears  to  have  been  the  most  prosper- 
ous period  of  Roelantsen's  life.  He  had  a 
daughter,  Tryntje,  baptized  in  the  old  church, 
and  as  a  husband,  a  father,  and  a  landholder 
he  seemed  to  have  given  hostages  to  fortune, 
and  engaged  to  comport  himself  as  a  good  and 
thrifty  citizen.  In  1643,  he  was  made  "  Weigh- 
master"8  and  added  to  his  possessions  by  the 


36arl£  Scbools  ant>  Schoolmasters  325 


purchase  of  another  lot  of  land.    In  1644,  a  son       Bt>am 

"oelan 
sen 

more  children  were  added  to  the  household 
before  the  death  of  his  wife  (spoken  of  in  sub- 
sequent records  as  Lyntje  Martens),  and  then 
the  prosperity  began  to  suffer  eclipse. 

In  1646,  he  set  sail  for  Holland  ;  but  made 
only  a  short  stay,  for  in  the  fall  of  that  year  we 
see  him  once  more  in  litigation  in  the  New 
Amsterdam  court.  The  skipper  of  the  vessel 
in  which  he  returned  had  endeavored  to  col- 
lect passage  money  ;  Roelantsen  refused  pay- 
ment, and  claimed  that  the  skipper  had  agreed 
that  he  should  cross  the  ocean  "free  of  pas- 
sage money  and  freight  of  his  trunk  provided 
he  would  work  as  one  of  the  sailors,  and  the 
skipper  had  also  said  repeatedly  that  he  should 
ask  no  pay  from  Roelantsen  because  he  said 
the  prayers."  Apparently  the  worth  of  Roe- 
lantsen's  prayers  was  accepted  by  the  court 
as  an  equivalent  for  the  passage  money,  since 
it  is  recorded  that  the  skipper  was  non-suited. 

A  month  later  Roelantsen  was  brought  be- 
fore the  court  as  a  malefactor  charged  with  an 
offense  so  flagrant  that  the  court  declared  such 
deeds  "may  not  be  tolerated  in  a  country 
where  justice  is  revered  ;  therefore  we  con- 
demn the  said  Roelantsen  to  be  brought  to 
the  place  of  execution  and  there  flogged  and 
banished  forever  out  of  this  country."  In  con- 
sideration of  the  defendant  having  four  mother- 


326 


Earlg  Scbools  an&  Scboo  [masters 


tftoelant. 
ten 


less  children  the  sentence  was  delayed  ;  though 
it  is  difficult  to  see  what  benefit  was  to  accrue 
to  the  little  half-orphans  from  the  guardianship 
of  such  a  father.  This  singular  vagabond 
seems  to  have  had  some  peculiar  charm  for 
the  staid  burghers  of  New  Amsterdam,  for,  in 
spite  of  his  misdeeds,  I  find  it  stated  on  ex- 
cellent authority  that  in  1647,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Provost,  and  in  1653,  was  a  member 
of  the  Burgher-Corps  of  New  Amsterdam.4 
With  this  date  this  strange  figure  in  our  early 
history  vanishes  from  the  records,  to  give  place 
to  a  long  line  of  pedagogical  successors,  often 
worthier,  but  seldom  either  so  picturesque  or 
so  clearly  etched  out  against  the  background 
of  the  past. 

His  career  is  the  more  amusing  in  the  light 
of  the  duties  of  the  Parochial  Schoolmaster,  as 
set  forth  in  his  commission  ;  these  were  "  to 
promote  religious  worship,  to  read  a  portion 
of  the  Word  of  God  to  the  people,  to  endea- 
vor, as  much  as  possible,  to  bring  them  up  in 
the  ways  of  the  Lord,  to  console  them  in  their 
sickness,  and  to  conduct  himself  with  all  dili- 
gence and  fidelity  in  his  calling  so  as  to  give 
others  a  good  example  as  becometh  a  devout, 
pious,  and  worthy  consoler  of  the  sick,  church- 
clerk,  Precenter  and  Schoolmaster."6  The 
form  of  this  commission  shows  how  closely 
State,  Church,  and  School  were  bound  to- 
gether in  Old  Holland,  and  New.  The  old 


Scbools  an&  Scboolmasters 


327 


Dutch  records  expressly  declare  that  "School- 
keeping  and  the  appointment  of  Schoolmas- 
ters depend  absolutely  from  the/z/s  patronatus 
and  require  a  license  from  the  Director-Gen- 
eral and  Council."6  The  offices  of  teacher 
and  preacher  were  closely  allied  and  the  duty 
of  consoling  the  sick  equally  devolved  upon 
both  domine  and  schoolmaster. 

The  requirements  for  the  office  of  school- 
master in  all  its  capacities  were  severe.  At 
one  time  the  Consistory  stated  them  as 
follows  : 

"  First :  That  he  be  a  person  of  suitable  qualifications  to 
officiate  as  schoolmaster  and  chorister,  possessing  a  knowl- 
edge of  music,  a  good  voice  so  as  to  be  heard,  an  aptitude 
to  teach  others  the  science,  and  that  he  should  be  a  good 
reader,  writer  and  arithmetician. 

"  Second  :  That  he  should  be  of  the  Reformed  Religion, 
a  member  of  the  church,  bringing  with  him  testimonials  of 
his  Christian  character  and  Conduct. 

"  Third  :  That  whether  married  or  unmarried  he  be  not 
under  twenty-five  nor  over  thirty-five." 

The  duties  of  this  official  were  as  varied  as 
his  qualifications,  since  he  was  expected  to 
keep  the  books  for  the  Consistory,  to  read 
and  pray  with  the  sick,  and  in  every  way  to 
supplement  the  work  of  the  minister,  even  to 
turning  the  hour-glass  during  church  service 
as  a  reminder  that  the  sermon  had  continued 
beyond  the  allotted  time.  This  semi-ecclesias- 
tical character  belonged  only  to  the  official 


•Require* 

meats  foe 
tbe  office 

of  Schools 
master 


328 


Scbools  anfc  Schoolmasters 


,lan  Step- 
cnxn 


schoolmaster,  appointed  by  the  West  India 
Company  and  acting  under  the  direction  of 
the  church.  Other  teachers  independent  of 
such  control,  though  requiring  a  license  from 
civil  and  church  authorities,  appeared  in  the 
colony  from  time  to  time  and  sought  to  earn  a 
livelihood  by  tuition  fees  ;  but  these  fees  seem 
to  have  proved  discouragingly  small,  and 
the  schoolmaster  generally  tried  to  combine 
school-keeping  with  some  more  remunerative 
occupation. 

One  Arien  Jansen  Van  llpendam  opened  a 
school  in  New  Amsterdam  a  year  before  the 
sentence  of  banishment  was  passed  upon  Roe- 
lantsen.7  His  terms  of  tuition  were  two  dried 
bear  skins  per  annum.  His  school  was  so 
successful  that  it  continued  for  over  a  decade. 

The  official  successor  of  Roelantsen  was 
Jan  Stevensen,  whose  school-keeping  is  set 
down  in  the  Register  of  New  Amsterdam  as 
dating  from  1643,  the  year  in  which  Roelant- 
sen was  made  Weigh-master.  The  Company 
granted  Stevensen  a  patent  of  a  lot  of  land  lo- 
cated on  Broadway,  then  the  "  Heere  Straat," 
adjoining  the  old  churchyard.  The  question 
of  a  public  schoolhouse  was  by  this  time 
seriously  agitated.  There  was  talk  of  building 
a  schoolhouse  when  the  stone  church  in  the 
Fort  was  begun ;  but  that  edifice  used  up  all 
the  funds  available,  and  the  children  found 
themselves  with  no  better  accommodation 


Scbools  an&  Scboolmasters 


329 


than  a  room  in  a  private  house,  and  those  who 
have  studied  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  New 
Amsterdam  of  Stuy  vesant's  day,  and  appreciate 
how  small  were  those  private  houses,  built 
of  mud  and  reeds,8  will  understand  how  inad- 
equate a  single  room  in  one  was  likely  to 
prove.  In  1647,  public  education  was  en- 
tirely suspended,  owing  to  the  lack  of  suit- 
able accommodation.  The  Director  appealed 
to  the  Commonalty  for  aid,  saying :  ' '  Whereas, 
for  want  of  a  school  house,  no  school  has  been 
kept  here  during  three  months,  by  which  the 
youth  are  spoiled,  it  is  proposed  to  consider 
where  a  convenient  place  may  be  fixed  upon 
so  as  to  keep  the  youth  from  the  streets  and 
under  strict  subordination."  Contributions 
for  erection  of  the  school-building  were  called 
for,  and  some  response  was  made;  but  still 
without  result,  for  a  petition  addressed  to  the 
States-General  by  the  New  Netherlander  in 
October,  1649,  sets  forth  that 

"  the  bowl  has  been  going  round  a  longtime  for  the  purpose 
of  erecting  a  school  house  and  it  has  been  built  with  words 
[observe  the  fine  sarcasm]  for  as  yet  the  first  stone  is  not 
laid,  some  materials  only  are  provided.  The  money,  never- 
theless, given  for  the  purpose  has  found  its  way  out  and  is 
mostly  spent  so  that  it  falls  short  and  nothing  permanent 
has  as  yet  been  effected  for  that  purpose."  9 

To  this  remonstrance  the  West  India  Com- 
pany made  rather  tart  answer  that  "the  Di- 
rector hath  not  the  administration  of  the 


•Cbe 
Question 

of  a 
public 

ScbooU 

bouse 

agitated 


33<> 


Earl£  Scbools  ant>  Schoolmasters 


.tan 

Cornelias 
sen 


money  that  was  taken  up  on  the  plate;  but 
Jacob  Couwenhoven  who  is  one  of  the  peti- 
tioners, hath  kept  account  of  it  in  his  quality 
of  churchwarden."  These  bickerings  and 
recriminations  continued  for  several  years  ; 
meanwhile  Stevensen  was  succeeded,  in  1648 
or  1649,  by  Jan  Cornelissen,  reputed  to  have 
been  lazy,  and  much  given  to  the  use  of  "  hot 
and  rebellious  liquors."  Perhaps  the  Direct- 
ors of  the  Company  began  to  perceive  that 
such  service  was  worse  than  none,  and  that 
it  was  hopeless  to  secure  better  without  both 
assured  income  and  a  suitable  place  of  instruc- 
tion, for  in  the  spring  of  1652  we  find  them 
writing  to  Stuy  vesant : 

"  We  give  our  consent  that  a  public  school  may  be  es- 
tablished, for  which  one  schoolmaster  will  be  sufficient,  and 
he  maybe  engaged  at  250  florins  [$ioo]  annually.  We  rec- 
ommend you  Jan  de  la  Montagne  whom  we  have  provision- 
ally favored  with  the  appointment.  You  may  appropriate 
the  city  tavern  for  that  purpose,  if  practicable." 

The  city  tavern  herein  noted  was  no  other 
than  the  old  inn  which  later  gained  greater 
renown  as  the  Stadt  Huys.  It  raised  its 
quaint  "crow-step  gables"  far  above  the 
lowly  thatched  roofs  of  the  village  that  clus- 
tered around  it,  and  its  walls  and  chimneys 
of  substantial  brick  and  stone  were  built  to 
withstand  wind  and  weather  and,  like  the  old 
church,  to  bear  enduring  testimony  to  the 


Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


331 


greatness  of  Director  William  Kieft,  who  or- 
dered it  erected,  in  1642,  at  the  head  of  Coen- 
ties  Slip. 

The  Burgomasters  perhaps  found  it  not 
"  practicable  "  to  oust  the  loungers  who  had 
so  long  smoked  their  pipes  in  the  cozy  corner 
by  the  great  chimney  or  tippled  their  beer 
over  the  wooden  tables  standing  close  to  the 
roadside  on  the  brick-floored,  vine-shaded 
stoop.  No  doubt  these  frequenters  of  the  old 
tavern  were  loath  to  give  place  to  school- 
boys with  puffed  breeches  and  plastered  hair, 
sitting  solemnly  on  the  benches  which  ran 
along  the  wall,  or  standing  in  disgrace,  ^ptscap 
on  head,  in  the  corner  allotted  to  dunces.  Just 
how  they  settled  the  question  does  not  appear; 
but  several  years  later,  in  1656,  the  school- 
master, then  Harmanus  Van  Hoboocken, 
sent  the  following  urgent  appeal  to  the 
Burgomasters  and  Schepens  on  the  occasion 
of  the  burning  of  the  schoolhouse  : 

"  The  reverential  request  of  Harmanus  Van  Hoboocken, 
Schoolmaster  of  this  city,  is  that  he  may  be  allowed  the  use 
of  the  hall  and  side  chamber  of  the  City  Hall  for  the  use  of 
his  school  and  as  a  residence  for  his  family,  inasmuch  as  he, 
petitioner,  has  no  place  to  keep  school  in,  or  to  live  in  dur- 
ing the  winter,  it  being  necessary  that  the  rooms  should  be 
made  warm,  which  cannot  be  done  in  his  own  house  from 
its  unfitness.  The  petitioner  further  represents  that  he  is 
burthened  with  a  wife  and  children  and  moreover  his  wife  is 
expected  shortly  to  be  brought  to  child-bed  again,  so  that 
he  is  much  at  a  loss  how  to  make  accomodation  for  his 


•fcarmanuB 
Van 


332 


Scbools  an&  Scboolmasters 


fjarmanue 
(Pan 


family  and  school  children.  The  petitioner  therefore  asks 
that  he  may  use  the  chamber  wherein  Gouert  Coerten  at 
present  dwells."  I0 

The  answer  to  this  petition  set  forth  that 
"Whereas,  the  room  which  petitioner  asks 
for  his  use  as  a  dwelling  and  schoolroom  is 
out  of  repair  and  moreover  is  wanted  for 
other  uses,  it  cannot  be  allowed  to  him.  But 
as  the  town  youth  are  doing  so  uncommon 
well  now,  it  is  thought  proper  to  find  a  con- 
venient place  for  their  accommodation,  and  for 
that  purpose  petitioner  is  granted  100  guilders 
yearly." 

Before  the  coming  of  Hoboocken,  the  office 
of  pedagogue  and  Ziekentroster,  or  ' '  consoler 
of  the  sick,"  had  been  filled  by  William 
Verstius,  "a  pious,  well  qualified  and  diligent 
schoolmaster,"  "who  served  for  several  years 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  community,  and  was 
only  parted  with  on  his  own  urgent  solicitation 
to  be  permitted  to  return  to  Holland. 

When  Harmanus  Van  Hoboocken  came  over 
in  1655,  to  take  the  place  of  Verstius,  he  found 
New  Amsterdam  a  thriving  village,  numbering 
over  a  hundred  cottages,  and  sheltering  about 
a  thousand  inhabitants.  He  followed  the 
traditions  of  his  office  by  marrying  a  widow, 
and  conducted  the  school  so  satisfactorily  that, 
when  at  the  end  of  several  years  he  was  re- 
placed by  Evert  Pietersen,  he  was  engaged 
as  eAdelborst  (something  above  a  common 


Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


333 


soldier)  in  the  Company's  service,  at  a  salary 
of  10  guilders  a  month,  and  his  board,  and 
was  also  employed  on  Governor  Stuyvesant's 
bouwery  as  clerk  and  schoolmaster.  As  this 
bouwery  was  located  in  the  region  of  what  is 
now  lower  Third  Avenue,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Twelfth  Street,  this  second  school,  being  at 
that  time  far  out  of  town,  did  not  conflict  with 
the  school  in  the  little  village  near  the  Fort. 
There  is  some  evidence  to  show  that  this 
lower  school  was  held  at  one  time  within  the 
walls  of  the  Fort  itself ;  but  this  is  only  vaguely 
touched  upon  in  the  records,  though  it  is  a 
constant  source  of  wonder  to  me  that  the 
great  stone  church  raised  by  Kieft  and  of  no 
use  except  o'  Sundays,  was  not  utilized  be- 
tween-times  for  educational  purposes. 

Now  that  the  colony  was  growing  so  fast 
it  was  found  that  there  was  room  for  more 
than  one  school  and  schoolmaster  ;  but  the 
church  and  the  Company  were  very  tena- 
cious of  their  rights  of  control,  and  looked 
with  a  jealous  eye  upon  every  effort  to  es- 
tablish schools  outside  their  jurisdiction.  A 
very  lively  controversy  took  place  between 
the  city  magistrates  and  the  colonial  authori- 
ties on  the  occasion  of  the  granting  of  a  school- 
keeping  license  by  the  magistrates  to  Jacob 
Van  Corlaer.  Straightway  the  Governor  and 
Council  directed  the  Attorney-General  to  go 
to  the  house  of  van  Corlaer,  "who  has  for 


Evert 
ptetereen 


334 


Barlp  Scbools  an£>  Scboolmasters 


Ube 
JBurgber's 


etrance 


some  time  past  arrogated  to  himself  to  keep 
school,"  and  warn  him  that  his  arrogance  and 
his  school-keeping  must  cease,  under  pain  of 
the  displeasure  of  the  Director  and  the  Council. 
At  this  juncture  the  Burgomasters  and 
Schepens  presented  a  petition  in  Van  Cor- 
laer's  favor,  and  the  delinquent  himself  humbly 
begged  the  privilege  of  continuing  what  seems 
at  this  remove  his  harmless  calling  ;  but  all 
efforts  were  in  vain.  The  record  states  that 
"for  weighty  reasons  influencing  the  Di- 
rector General  and  Council  the  apostille  [mar- 
ginal note]  was  ' nihil  actum."  Meanwhile 
the  restlessness  of  the  burghers  under  their 
limited  educational  privileges  was  increasing. 
Their  "  Vertoogh,"  or  remonstrance  to  the 
home  government,  had  set  forth  that 

"There  should  be  a  public  school  provided  with  at  least 
two  good  masters,  so  that  first  of  all,  in  so  wild  a  country, 
where  there  are  many  loose  people,  the  youth  be  well 
taught  and  brought  up,  not  only  in  reading  and  writing  but 
also  in  the  knowledge  and  fear  of  the  Lord  As  it  is  now, 
the  school  is  kept  very  irregularly,  one  and  another  keep- 
ing it  according  to  his  pleasure,  and  so  long  as  he  thinks 
proper." 

As  time  went  on  and  the  population  stead- 
ily increased,  the  ideas  of  the  colonists  ex- 
panded in  this  direction  as  in  every  other. 
Moreover,  their  local  pride  was  touched  by 
the  advance  of  New  England  and  the  estab- 
lishment in  Massachusetts  of  the  academy 


j£arlv>  Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


335 


destined  to  become  the  first  college  planted 
in  the  Western  hemisphere.  In  1658,  this 
righteous  ambition  found  vent  in  a  petition  of 
the  Burgomasters  and  Schepens  to  the  West 
India  Company. 

"  It  is  represented,"  the  petitioners  say,  "  that  the  youth 
of  this  place  and  the  neighborhood  are  increasing  in  num- 
ber gradually  and  that  most  of  them  can  read  and  write, 
but  that  some  of  the  citizens  and  inhabitants  would  like 
to  send  their  children  to  a  school  the  principal  of  which 
understands  Latin  ;  but  are  not  able  to  do  so  without 
sending  them  to  New  England  ;  furthermore  they  have  not 
the  means  to  hire  a  Latin  schoolmaster  expressly  for  them- 
selves from  New  England,  and  therefore  they  ask  that  the 
West  India  Company  will  send  out  a  fit  person  as  Latin 
schoolmaster,  not  doubting  that  the  number  of  persons  who 
will  send  their  children  to  such  a  teacher  will  from  year  to 
year  increase  until  an  Academy  shall  be  formed  whereby 
this  place  to  great  splendour  will  have  attained,  for  which, 
next  to  God,  the  Honorable  Company  which  shall  have 
sent  such  teacher  here  shall  have  laud  and  praise.  For 
our  own  part  we  shall  endeavor  to  find  a  fit  place  in  which 
the  Schoolmaster  shall  hold  his  school." 

It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
"children  "  for  whom  these  educational  privi- 
leges were  to  be  provided  were  boys  only. 
Nothing  would  have  more  surprised  the 
burghers  than  the  prediction  of  the  classical 
schools  and  normal  schools,  the  college  and 
university  opportunities  now  open  to  the 
daughters  of  Manhattan.  In  those  days  the 
domestic  training  of  the  home,  or,  at  most, 


petition  of 

JBurgomaes 
tcrs  ano 
Scbcpcn» 


336 


Scbools  an&  Scboolmasters 


Blejanter 
Carolue 
(turtiue 


the  dame-school,  with  its  very  rudimentary 
instruction  in  reading  and  writing,  was 
enough  to  content  the  educational  ambition 
of  the  colonial  maidens. 

The  Directors  in  Holland  looked  with  favor 
upon  the  petition  of  the  Burgomasters  and 
Schepens  ;  but  they  did  not  allow  their  en- 
thusiasm for  education  to  run  away  with  the 
thrift  which  throughout  the  history  of  Dutch 
rule  marked  their  dealings  with  the  colonists. 
They  wrote  to  Stuyvesant : 

"The  Rev.  Domine  Drisius  has  intimated  to  us  more 
than  once  that  in  his  opinion  it  might  be  serviceable  to 
establish  a  Latin  School  for  the  instruction  of  the  youth, 
and  as  we  do  not  disapprove  of  the  plan  we  have  thought  it 
proper  to  communicate  it  to  you  that  if  you  consider 
it  proper  to  make  the  experiment  you  may  advise  us  in 
what  manner  it  can  be  effected  to  the  greatest  advantage  of 
the  Community,  and  with  the  least  expense  to  the  Com- 
pany." 

As  a  result  of  these  consultations,  the  Com- 
pany, in  1659,  despatched  a  pedagogue,  bear- 
ing the  portentous  name  of  Alexander  Carolus 
Curtius,  to  be  the  classical  instructor  of  the 
new  academy  at  New  Amsterdam,  which 
was  to  bring  such  "laud  and  praise"  to  all 
concerned.  He  started  out  prosperously.  The 
Burgomasters  voted  him  out  of  the  city-chest 
a  very  comfortable  salary  of  two  hundred  guild- 
ers, according  to  one  authority,  five  hundred 
according  to  another,  with  fifty  in  advance. 


Scbools  ant>  Schoolmasters 


337 


Carolus 


Besides  this,  Valentine  fits  him  out  with  an- 
other advance  of  one  hundred  florins  where- 

Curtlus 

with  to  purchase  merchandise  to  set  him  up  in 
business  on  his  arrival  in  the  colony,  and,  as 
if  this  were  not  enough,  he  was  granted  the 
use  of  a  house  and  garden  and  given  permis- 
sion to  practise  medicine.  The  ingrate  still 
complained  that  the  compensation  was  in- 
sufficient, and  after  another  anxious  consulta- 
tion between  the  Director  and  the  city  rulers 
it  was  agreed  that  he  should  be  allowed  to 
charge  six  guilders  per  quarter  for  each 
scholar.  His  grasping  greed  overreached  it- 
self in  the  next  year,  when  he  charged  several 
of  his  pupils  a  whole  beaver-skin,  worth  at 
least  eight  guilders.  This  was  too  much  even 
for  the  long-suffering  Burgomasters,  and  Mas- 
ter Curtius  found  his  salary  docked  for  the 
year. 

Other  causes  of  discontent  had  also  arisen. 
Curtius  had  brought  over  with  him  a  fine  repu- 
tation. He  had  been  a  professor  in  Lithuania, 
and  no  doubt  was  possessed  of  a  vast  stock 
of  learning,  and  had  the  dead  languages  at  his 
finger  ends  ;  but  unfortunately  he  had  little 
knowledge  of  live  human  nature,  and  espe- 
cially boy  nature,  which  apparently  was  not 
so  unlike  in  New  Amsterdam  and  New  York. 
The  little  Dutch  pupils  laughed  to  scorn  the 
authority  of  the  new  master,  and  diverted 
themselves,  amid  the  severe  application  de- 


338 


Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


luvcfc 


manded  for  a  classical  education  by  beat- 
ing each  other  and  playfully  tearing  the 
clothes  from  each  other's  backs.  Naturally 
the  parents  disapproved,  and  as  naturally  they 
visited  their  displeasure  upon  the  unfortunate 
instructor,  and  we  can  imagine  the  contumely 
they  heaped  upon  "this  fine  professor  who 
charges  a  whole  beaver-skin  and  cannot  even 
keep  order."  Yet  we  can  but  feel  a  thrill  of 
sympathetic  commiseration  for  poor  Alex- 
ander Carolus  Curtius  when  we  read  his 
counter-complaint  that  he  was  powerless  to 
preserve  discipline,  because  "his  hands  were 
tied,  as  some  of  the  parents  forbade  him  pun- 
ishing their  children." 

Wherever  the  fault  lay,  it  soon  became  evi- 
dent that  the  children  were  not  being  trained 
up  in  the  way  they  should  go,  and  it  resulted 
in  the  return  of  Curtius  to  Holland  and  the 
substitution  as  head  master  in  the  school,  of 
y^Egidius  Luyck.  This  new  incumbent,  who 
was  established  as  principal  of  the  Latin 
School  in  1662,  proved  entirely  satisfactory. 
He  was  only  twenty-two  years  old,  but  so 
staid  in  character,  so  firm  in  discipline,  and  of 
such  high  repute  in  scholarship  that  he  made 
the  academy  well  known  far  and  wide.  New 
Amsterdam  began  to  find  itself  advancing  to 
the  front  rank  in  educational  advantages 
among  the  American  settlements,  and  not 
only  ceased  to  send  youth  to  New  England, 


j£arl£  Scbools  anO  Scboolmasters 


339 


but  drew  to  itself  pupils  from  far-away  colo- 
nies— two  at  least  being  recorded  from  Vir- 
ginia, others  from  the  settlements  on  the 
Delaware,  and  two,  with  the  promise  of 
more,  from  Fort  Orange. ja 

On  the  capture  of  New  Amsterdam  by  the 
English,  Luyck  returned  to  his  native  land  to 
study  theology;  but  later  he  came  back  to 
this  city,  then  New  York,  married  a  relative 
of  Director  Stuyvesant,  to  whose  sons  he  had 
been  private  tutor  before  taking  charge  of  the 
Latin  School,  and  continued  his  useful  career 
of  teacher  in  the  colony  under  English  rule.13 

The  regular  schoolmaster,  Evert  Pietersen, 
who  taught  at  the  lower  school  while  Ho- 
boocken  instructed  at  Stuyvesant's  bouwery 
and  Luyck  succeeded  Curtius  at  the  Latin 
School,  also  continued  in  office  after  the 
English  occupation.  He  made  his  home  on 
the  south  side  of  the  'Brouwer  Straat,  a  section 
of  what  is  now  Stone  Street,  extending  from 
Whitehall  to  Broad  Street,  and  gaining  its 
name  from  the  brewery  owned  by  Oloff 
Stevenson  Van  Courtlandt.14  Pietersen  was 
married  when  he  came  to  this  country,  but 
later  lost  his  wife  and,  following  the  precedent 
of  his  profession,  married  a  widow.  His  salary 
when  he  first  came  over  on  the. Gilded  TSeaver 
was  fixed  at  thirty-six  guilders  ($15)  monthly 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  guilders 
annually  for  his  board.  The  small  amount 


Evert 
ptetereen 


34° 


Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


Influence 
of  tbe 
Cburcb 


was  grudingly  and  irregularly  paid  and  yet 
such  was  his  thrift  that  by  1674,  he  was  one 
of  the  most  substantial  citizens  of  New  York, 
with  a  property  valued  at  two  thousand 
florins. 

The  church  still  held  its  controlling  hand  on 
the  official  school  in  Pietersen's  time,  as  for 
long  afterwards,  not  having  withdrawn  its 
sheltering  care  from  the  descendant  of  that  old 
Dutch  school  even  now.  This  fact  its  histo- 
rian proudly  points  out  and  indeed  we  may  all 
take  pride  in  one  of  the  longest-lived  educa- 
tional institutions  of  our  country  : 

The  church  influence  showed  itself  in  a  civil 
ordinance  of  New  Amsterdam,  bearing  date 
March  17,  1664  : 

"  Whereas  it  is  highly  necessary  and  of  great  consequence 
that  the  youth  from  their  childhood  is  well  instructed  in 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  and  principally  in  the  prin- 
ciples and  fundaments  of  the  Christian  religion,  in  conformity 
to  the  lesson  of  that  wise  King  Solomon,  '  Learn  the  youth 
the  first  principles  and  as  he  grows  old,  he  shall  not  then 
deviate  from  it '  ;  so  that  in  time  such  men  may  arise  from  it 
who  may  be  able  to  serve  their  country  in  Church  or  in  State  ; 
which  being  seriously  considered  by  the  Director  General 
and  Council  in  New  Netherland,  as  the  number  of  children 
by  God's  merciful  blessing  has  considerably  increased,  they 
have  deemed  it  necessary  so  that  such  an  useful,  and  to  our 
God,  agreeable  concern  may  be  more  effectually  promoted, 
to  recommend  the  present  school  master  and  to  command 
him,  so  as  it  is  done  by  this,  that  they  (Pietersen  and  Van 
Hoboocken)  on  Wednesday  before  the  beginning  of  the 
sermon  with  the  children  intrusted  to  their  care,  shall  appear 


Scbools  an&  Scboolmasters 


341 


in  the  Church  to  examine  after  the  close  of  the  sermon  each 
of  them  his  own  scholars  in  the  presence  of  the  reverend 
ministers  and  elders  who  may  then  be  present,  what  they, 
in  the  course  of  the  week,  do  remember  of  the  Christian 
commands  and  Catechism,  and  what  progress  they  have 
made  ;  after  which  the  children  shall  be  allowed  a  decent 
recreation."  ll 


Under  early  English  rule  the  schooling  of  the 
Dutch  children  was  little  interfered  with. 
They  were  to  be  instructed  in  the  "Nether- 
landisch  tongue  "  as  of  old,  and  the  school- 
master was  still  to  be  under  the  supervision  of 
the  Consistory.  The  school  hours  were  fixed 
from  nine  to  eleven  A.M.  in  summer,  from 
half-past  nine  to  half-past  twelve  in  winter, 
while  the  afternoon  session  the  year  round 
lasted  from  one  to  five  o'clock."  The  schools 
were  opened  and  closed  with  prayer,  twice  a 
week  the  pupils  were  examined  in  the 
catechism,  and  express  stipulation  was  made 
that  teachers  should  use  "  none  but  edifying 
and  orthodox  text-books  and  such  as  should 
meet  the  approbation  of  the  Consistory." 

The  control  of  the  schools  so  wisely  con- 
ceded by  the  English  continued  in  the  hands 
of  the  Dutch  long  enough  to  stamp  the  char- 
acter which  endures  to  this  day  in  the  repre- 
sentative School  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  of  New  York,  which  with 
all  its  fine  buildings  and  elaborate  equipments 
is  the  direct  successor  of  the  little  school  gath- 


Influence 
on  tbe 
IDutcb 
School 


342 


)£arls  Scbools  anO  Scboolmasters 


list  of 
Earl? 
School* 
masters 


ered  together  by  Adam  Roelantsen  under  the 
shadow  of  the  old  Fort. 

Those  of  us  of  Dutch  blood  have  a  special 
right  to  look  with  pride  upon  this  steady 
growth  of  the  educational  institution  planted 
and  fostered  by  our  forefathers  and  bearing 
perpetual  testimony  to  their  energy  and  per- 
severance, their  just  valuation  of  "the  things 
of  the  spirit,"  their  respect  for  learning,  and 
their  determination  to  "learn  the  youth  the 
first  principles  "  and  to  make  them  men  "  who 
may  be  able  to  serve  their  country  in  Church 
and  State."  We  are  compelled  to  respect 
their  earnestness  and  their  persistence  under 
what  might  well  have  seemed  insurmount- 
able difficulties,  and  however  we  may  smile 
at  the  limitations  of  those  early  days,  we 
must  recognize  that  New  Amsterdam  has 
as  good  a  claim  as  New  England  to  the  praise 
of  the  poet: 

"  And  still  maintains  with  milder  laws 
And  clearer  light  the  good  old  cause — 
Nor  heeds  the  sceptic's  puny  hands 
While  near  her  school  the  church-spire  stands, 
Nor  fears  the  blinded  bigot's  rule 
While  near  her  church-spire  stands  the  school." 


The  following  is  a  list  of  the  early  school- 
masters in  their  order: 


]£arls  Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters  343 


Official.  liat  of 

JEarl? 

Adam  Roelantsen,  masters. 

Jan  Stevensen, 

Jan  Cornelissen, 

William  Verstius, 

Johannes  Morice  de  la  Montagne, 

Harmanus  Van  Hoboocken, 

Evert  Pietersen. 


Among  the  unofficial  and  semi-official  teach- 
ers, fore-singers,  and  krank-besoeckers  were  : 

Adriaen  Jansen  Van  Ilpendam, 

David  Provoost, 

Joost  Carelse, 

Hans  Steyn, 

Andries  Hudde, 

Jacobus  van  Corlaer, 

Jan  Lubbertsen, 

Jan  Juriaense  Beeker, 

Frans  Claessen, 

Johannes  Van  Gelder. 

Latin  School. 

Alexander  Carolus  Curtius, 
Aegidius  Luyck. 

End  of  the  Dutch  Rule,  1674. 


344 


Scbools  anfc  Scboolmasters 


Inferences  REFERENCES. 

1 .  Fisher's  Colonial  Era. 

2.  Valentine's  Corporation  Manual,  1863,  p.  559  et  seq. 

3.  History  of  the  School  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed 

Dutch  Church,  p.  17. 

4.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan's  History  of  New  Netherland,  ii., 

p.  569. 

5.  Register  of  New  Netherland,  p.  129. 

6.  Register  of  New  Netherland,  p.  129. 

7.  Valentine's  Corporation  Manual,  1863,  p.  561. 

8.  Holland  Documents,  [see  letters  throughout]. 

9.  Holland  Documents,  iv. ,  p.  300. 

10.  Paulding's  New  Amsterdam  in  1647-1659,  p.  40. 

1 1.  Tuckerman's  Life  of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  p.  167. 

12.  Albany  Records. 

13.  Tuckerman's  Life  of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  p.  107. 

14.  New  Amsterdam  Records. 

15.  Albany  T{ecords,  xxii. 

1 6.  History  of  the  School  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed 

Dutch  Church,  p.  39. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  HARLEM  HEIGHTS 


345 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  X. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  HARLEM  HEIGHTS. 

BY  WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD,  PH.D. 

ANY  event  in  the  Revolution  that  made  a 
distinct  contribution  to  the  establish- 
ment of  independence  has  its  share  of  in- 
terest to  the  patriotic  American  ;  but  the 
"affair"  '  at  Harlem  Heights  has  a  general  im- 
portance, colored  with  a  local  interest,  which 
specially  merits  our  attention  and  admiration. 
Its  general  importance  is  attested  by  the  fact 
that,  coming  as  it  did  immediately  after  the 
calamity  on  Long  Island,  it  served  as  a  prelude 
to  the  brilliant  exploits  at  Trenton  and  Prince- 
ton ;  while  its  local  interest  is  clear,  when  we 
remember  that  it  was  the  only  contest  within 
the  limits  of  Greater  New  York  that  resulted 
in  a  victory  for  the  Americans.  The  battle  of 
Harlem  Heights,  therefore,  has  a  peculiar 
charm  to  the  citizen  of  the  metropolis.  Gaz- 
ing at  the  very  ground  on  which  it  was  fought, 
as  he  traces  from  one  landmark  to  another 


347 


local 

Interest 

of  tbe 

JGattlc 


Tlbe  Battle  of  Tbarlem  TbeiQbts 


Defence 
of  flew 

L'orh 


the  course  of  the  struggle,  he  may  reflect 
with  honest  pride  that  here,  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  his  own  city,  occurred  what  Wash- 
ington was  pleased  to  term  a  "  success  .  .  . 
productive  of  salutary  consequences,"  ' — once 
more  a  Concord  and  Lexington  which  "ani- 
mated our  troops,  gave  them  new  spirits," 
and  enabled  them  "with  inferior  numbers  to 
drive  their  enemy,  and  think  of  nothing  .  .  . 
but  conquest."  s 

In  January,  1776,  two  months  before  the 
British  evacuated  Boston,  the  question  arose 
whether  an  effort  should  be  made  to  hold 
New  York  —  probably  their  next  objective 
point  of  attack.  Although  apparent  that  the 
insular  position  of  New  York  with  its  belt  of 
navigable  waters  bore  out  the  truth  of  Charles 
Lee's  assertion  that  whoever  commanded  the 
sea  must  command  the  city,*  still,  if  a  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  was  to  be  issued  and 
its  assertion  of  rights  made  good,  the  abandon- 
ment of  New  York,  merely  on  the  plea  of 
difficulty  in  fortifying  it,  would  have  been  a 
serious  mistake.  Even  if  the  city  could  not 
be  made  impregnable,  a  brave  show  of  resist- 
ance might  deter  the  British  from  attempt- 
ing its  capture,  or  at  any  rate  "give  them," 
says  a  blunt  patriot,  "a  scrag  which  they 
would  not  relish  very  well,"5  before  a  capture 
could  be  effected. 

In  order  to  confine  the  British  water  control 


Ube  Battle  of  Tbarlem  "toeicjbts 


349 


to  the  harbor  and  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson 
River,  the  East  River — the  key  of  the  American 
position — was  fortified  along  both  banks  at 
various  points  from  the  Battery  to  Hell  Gate. 
The  water  front  on  the  south  and  west  also 
was  protected  by  batteries  on  the  shore  and 
barricades  in  the  streets  ;  while  to  the  north 
of  the  city  other  fortifications  were  constructed 
along  the  line  of  the  present  Grand  Street,  to 
ward  off  an  attack  from  that  quarter.  Then  to 
command  the  Hudson,  as  well  as  to  cover  a 
possible  retreat  by  way  of  Kingsbridge,  Fort 
Washington  was  built  a  little  to  the  south- 
west of  the  Washington  Bridge,  and  connected 
with  Fort  Lee  on  the  New  Jersey  shore  by  a 
series  of  stone-laden  boats  fastened  with 
chains,  and  sunk  as  an  obstruction  to  the 
enemy's  ships.  A  few  hundred  feet  north  of 
West  One  Hundred  and  Ninetieth  Street,  over- 
looking the  Harlem  River,  was  erected  a  re- 
doubt which  the  British  later  called  Fort 
George.  On  the  mainland  also,  beyond  Spuy- 
ten  Duyvil  Creek,  and  on  what  is  now  Giles' 
Place  west  of  Sedgwick  Avenue,  Fort  Inde- 
pendence was  constructed  to  hold  the  ap- 
proaches to  Kingsbridge. 

England  had  regarded  the  campaign  around 
Boston  as  a  mere  preliminary  indicative  of 
the  resistance  likely  to  be  offered  by  the  Ameri- 
cans. Hence  it  is  probable  that  the  British 
change  of  base  from  Boston  to  New  York  was 


"Defence 
of  flew 


35° 


Battle  ot  Tbarlem  Ibeigbts 


Condition 
of  tbc 

Opposiiui 
Brmies 


prompted  as  much  by  motives  of  strategy  as 
by  the  pressure  of  the  American  besiegers. 
New  York  henceforth  was  to  be  the  centre  of 
British  operations,  and  here  the  war  began  in 
earnest.  Late  in  June,  1776,  appeared  the  first 
signs  of  the  coming  occupation.  Within  seven 
weeks  over  four  hundred  vessels  and  thirty 
thousand  troops  under  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral Howe  were  in  New  York  harbor,  the  lat- 
ter being  encamped  on  Staten  Island.  To 
oppose  this  huge  array — as  mighty  a  military 
and  naval  armament  as  England  had  ever  sent 
upon  foreign  service — Washington  had  less 
than  twenty  thousand  effective  men.  Some 
of  these  were  fairly  armed  and  equipped,  but 
many  of  them,  farmers  fresh  from  the  plough, 
had  hardly  any  other  weapons  than  a  spade 
or  pick-axe,  or  possibly  a  scythe  made  straight 
and  fastened  to  a  pole.  Undaunted  however 
by  the  overwhelming  odds,  on  July  2,  Wash- 
ington addressed  to  his  army  the  stirring  ap- 
peal that  follows  : 

"The  fate  of  unborn  millions  will  now  depend  under  God 
on  the  courage  and  conduct  of  this  army.  Our  cruel  and 
unrelenting  enemy  leaves  us  no  choice  but  a  brave  resistance 
or  the  most  abject  submission.  This  is  all  we  can  expect. 
We  have,  therefore,  to  resolve  to  conquer  or  die.  Our 
country's  honor  calls  upon  us  for  a  vigorous  and  manly 
exertion,  and  if  we  now  shamefully  fail  we  shall  become 
infamous  to  the  whole  world.  Let  us,  therefore,  rely  upon 
the  goodness  of  the  cause  and  the  aid  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
in  whose  hands  victory  is,  to  animate  and  encourage  us  to 


TTbe  Battle  of  Tbarlem  1bet0bts 


351 


great  and  noble  actions.  The  eyes  of  all  our  countrymen 
are  now  upon  us,  and  we  shall  have  their  blessings  and 
praises,  if  happily  we  are  the  instruments  of  saving  them 
from  .  .  .  tyranny."6 


Not  only  does  this  appeal  seem  to  have  had 
the  desired  effect  upon  the  army  in  general, 
but,  in  particular,  "never  did  people  in  the 
world  act  with  more  spirit  and  resolution  than 
the  New  Yorkers."  T  A  part  of  the  enthusiasm 
was  manifested  a  week  later  in  pulling  down 
the  gilded  equestrian  statue  of  King  George 
near  the  junction  of  Broadway  and  Bowling 
Green,  and  in  sending  the  pieces  to  Connecti- 
cut, where  patriotic  women  converted  them 
into  bullets  for  the  American  army.8 

The  personality  of  Washington  and  the 
magnetic  influence  he  exercised  over  his 
soldiers  were  well  known  to  General  Howe. 
If  he  could  capture  the  rebel  leader  the  war 
would  indeed  be  ended  in  the  single  cam- 
paign which  boastful  British  officers  declared 
was  sufficient.  A  direct  attack  on  the  centre 
and  right  of  the  American  position  —  /'.  e., 
Governor's  Island,  the  Battery,  and  the  fortifi- 
cations facing  the  Hudson  River  —  would  prob- 
ably be  successful  ;  but,  besides  entailing 
serious  loss  on  the  aggressive  party,  might 
accomplish  no  more  than  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Americans  to  the  heights  in  the  north  of 
Manhattan  Island,  whence  Kingsbridge  furn- 
ished an  easy  escape.  Several  schemes  of 


tngton'8 
Hppeal 
to  bie 


352 


Ube  JSattle  of  fearlem  Ibeigbts 


Ube 
Xattle 
of  long 


outflanking,  therefore,  suggested  themselves 
to  Howe's  mind,  the  most  feasible  being  to 
assail  the  American  left  wing,  then  stationed 
on  Long  Island.  The  defences  of  Brooklyn 
once  broken  through  and  the  forts  along  the 
shore  silenced,  the  fleet  could  sail  up  the  East 
River  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  army,  cut 
off  Washington's  retreat  on  the  north.  The 
haughty  Virginian  rebel,  who  declined  to  re- 
ceive from  his  Majesty's  commissioners  any 
communication  addressed  simply  "  George 
Washington,  Esq.,"'  would  then  be  caught 
like  a  rat  in  a  trap.  Accordingly,  on  August 
22,  with  fifteen  thousand  troops  the  British 
commander  crossed  the  Narrows  to  Graves- 
end  Bay,  and  took  possession  of  the  villages 
on  the  flatlands  where  he  was  soon  joined  by 
five  thousand  Hessians.  For  several  days  the 
armies  lay  over  against  each  other  with  no 
more  hostile  demonstration  than  an  occasional 
skirmish.  South  of  the  American  lines  at 
Brooklyn,  and  extending  eastward  from  New 
York  Bay,  was  a  low  range  of  densely  wooded 
hills  that  served  as  a  huge  natural  barrier  to 
the  approach  of  an  enemy,  and  could  be  vig- 
orously defended.  Four  roads  led  through 
depressions  in  this  range,  three  of  which  were 
strongly  guarded,  but  at  the  fourth,  known  as 
the  "Jamaica  Pass,"  only  five  mounted  pickets 
had  been  stationed.  On  the  night  of  August 
26,  the  British  stealthily  advanced  to  the 


Battle  of  Tbarlem  Tbeigbts 


353 


"  Pass/'  captured  the  pickets,  and  ere  an 
alarm  could  be  given  fell  upon  the  astounded 
Americans  and  routed  them  with  a  loss  of 
over  eleven  hundred.  Happily,  however,  the 
British  had  not  forced  the  American  lines, 
otherwise,  outnumbering  as  they  did  their 
opponents  nearly  three  to  one,  the  entire 
patriot  army  on  Long  Island  must  have  sur- 
rendered. Two  nights  later,  Washington 
effected  his  masterly  retreat  to  New  York. 
Leaving  his  camp-fires  ablaze  and  a  few  pick- 
ets posted  so  as  to  lull  suspicion,  the  army  of 
nine  thousand  Americans  marched  to  Fulton 
Ferry  and  crossed  in  safety,  the  only  accident 
being  the  loss  of  a  boat  with  four  stragglers. 
If  the  Americans  had  been  outflanked  the 
British  had  been  outwitted,  and  some  conso- 
lation at  least  might  be  derived  from  that  fact. 
Yet,  however  courageous  the  resistance  and 
brilliant  the  retreat,  the  immediate  result  of 
the  battle  of  Long  Island  was  deplorable.  No 
one  more  than  Washington  realized  it,  for  in 
his  letter  to  Congress,  September  2,  he  says: 

"  Our  situation  is  truly  distressing.  The  check  .  .  .  sus- 
tained on  the  27th  ultimo  has  dispirited  too  great  a  propor- 
tion of  our  troops,  and  filled  their  minds  with  apprehension 
and  despair.  The  militia,  instead  of  calling  forth  tneir  ut- 
most efforts  to  a  brave  and  manly  opposition  in  order  to 
repair  our  losses,  are  dismayed,  intractable,  and  impatient  to 
return.  Great  numbers  of  them  have  gone  off ;  in  some 
instances  almost  by  whole  regiments,  by  half  ones,  and  by 
companies  at  a  time." 


"CClasb= 

fngton's 

TCctrcat 

from 

long 


354 


Battle  of  tmrlem  Tbeiabts 


•Cbe 
•Result 
of  tbe 
Kattlc 
of  long 
Island 


An  absolute  disregard  of  "that  order  and 
subordination  necessary  to  the  well-doing  of 
an  army  "  made  his  situation  all  the  more 
alarming,  and  evoked  from  him  the  sorrowful 
statement : 

"  With  the  deepest  concern  1  am  obliged  to  confess  my 
want  of  confidence  in  the  generality  of  the  troops.  .  .  . 
Till  of  late  I  had  no  doubt  in  my  own  mind  of  defending 
this  place  [i.  e.,  New  York],  nor  should  I  have  yet  if  the 
men  would  do  their  duty,  but  this  I  despair  of.  It  is  pain- 
ful and  extremely  grating  to  me  to  give  such  unfavorable 
accounts,  but  it  would  be  criminal  to  conceal  the  truth  at 
so  critical  a  juncture."  10 

Indeed  it  was  found  necessary  to  establish 
guards  at  Kingsbridge  and  other  points  to 
stop  the  deserters,  especially  those  with  arms 
and  ammunition.  One  incident  will  serve  to 
illustrate  the  simple  character  of  the  average 
militiaman.  The  guard  brought  to  a  halt  a 
ragged  fellow  who  was  carrying  something 
in  a  bag.  The  something  proved  to  be  a  can- 
non ball  which,  he  explained,  he  was  taking 
home  to  his  mother  to  pound  mustard  seed! " 
Yet  give  these  rustic  soldiers  a  little  longer 
time  in  the  army,  render  them  accustomed  to 
the  din  of  warfare,  and  the  skittish  militia, 
for  whom  the  Continental  regulars  evinced 
such  utter  contempt,  would  soon  be  found 
among  the  bravest  defenders  of  their  country. 
At  this  moment,  however,  Washington  felt 
that  he  could  place  no  reliance  on  an  army 


Battle  of  Ibarlem 


355 


composed  largely  of  such  material,  and  reluc- 
tantly began  to  consider  the  advisability  of 
evacuating  Manhattan  Island,  at  any  rate  south 
of  Harlem  Heights.  Here  an  energetic  stand 
might  be  made,  for  Washington  had  no  inten- 
tion of  doing  what  Lee  later  proposed, — to 
"give  Mr.  Howe  a  fee  simple"13  to  New 
York,  without  a  struggle.  From  several  of 
his  officers  came  the  suggestion  to  burn  the 
city,  but  fortunately  this  piece  of  useless  de- 
struction was  averted  by  the  prudent  modera- 
tion of  Congress.  In  reply  to  Washington's 
query  on  this  point,  Congress  declared  that 
the  city  be  left  intact;  for,  even  "though 
the  enemy  should  for  a  time  obtain  pos- 
session of  it,"  eventual  recovery  was  cer- 
tain.13 At  length,  September  12,  it  was 
resolved  to  withdraw  the  army  to  Harlem 
Heights,  a  sufficient  number  only  of  men  being 
left  to  keep  guard  over  the  approaches  from 
the  East  River,  while  Putnam  superintended 
the  removal  of  stores  and  munitions.  Hence 
at  the  foot  of  the  present  Grand  Street  (then 
Corlaer's  Hook),  East  Twelfth  Street,  East 
Twenty-third  Street,  and  East  Thirty-fourth 
Street  (then  Kip's  Bay),  were  entrenched 
several  brigades  of  militia.  Also  at  various 
points  as  far  north  as  East  Eighty-ninth  Street 
(then  Horn's  Hook)  was  posted  a  line  of  sen- 
tinels who  half-hourly  passed  along  the  cheer- 
ing watchword,  "All 's  well,"  to  which  the 


XUitb= 
Drawal  to 
Tbarlcm 

Ibctgbts 


3Battle  of  Ibarlem  Ibeigbts 


•Rtp'fl 
3B8B 


British  sailors,  who  could  distinctly  hear  the 
ca^  ^rom  ^^  S^PS  m  ^e  river>  derisively  re- 


sponded,    "We  will  alter  your  tune  before 
to-morrow  night."  14 

Two  days  later  Washington  set  up  his  head- 
quarters at  the  Roger  Morris  (now  Jumel)  1§ 
Mansion,  still  standing  on  One  Hundred 
and  Sixty-first  Street,  east  of  St.  Nicholas 
Avenue,  and  in  one  day  more  the  removal  of 
men  and  munitions  would  have  been  com- 
plete. Meanwhile  several  ships  of  war  had 
forced  their  way  up  the  East  River,  in  spite 
of  the  steady  fire  from  the  American  batteries 
on  the  Manhattan  shore  ;  but  it  was  not  until 
September  1  1,  that  the  British  effected  a  land- 
ing on  Montresor's  (now  Randall's)  Island, 
and  on  Buchanan's  (now  Ward's)  Island,  with 
the  manifest  intention  of  crossing  to  Harlem 
and  of  advancing  upon  the  city  from  the 
north.  Washington  had  anticipated  this 
move  by  the  prompt  withdrawal  to  Harlem, 
and,  as  the  powerful  American  battery  at 
Horn's  Hook  had  not  been  silenced,  Howe 
decided  to  debark  his  troops  at  Kip's  Bay. 
On  Sunday,  the  fifteenth,  under  a  furious 
cannonade  from  the  frigates,  the  British  regu- 
lars landed  and  drove  the  American  militia  in 
wild  confusion  from  their  entrenchments. 
The  half-humorous  description  of  the  en- 
counter related  by  a  participant  on  the  Ameri- 
can side  shows  the  situation  exactly  : 


Battle  of  tmrlem  Ibeigbts 


357 


"At  daybreak,"  he  says,  "the  first  thing  that  saluted 
our  eyes  was  .  .  .  four  ships  at  anchor  .  .  .  within  mus- 
ket-shot of  us.  ...  They  appeared  to  be  very  busy  on 
shipboard,  but  we  lay  still  and  showed  our  good  breeding 
by  not  interfering  with  them,  as  they  were  strangers  and 
we  knew  not  but  they  were  bashful  withal  !  As  soon  as  it 
was  fairly  light  we  saw  their  boats  coming,  .  .  .  filled  with 
British  soldiers.  When  they  came  to  the  edge  of  the  tide, 
they  formed  their  boats  in  line.  They  continued  to  aug- 
ment these  forces  .  .  .  until  they  appeared  like  a  large 
clover  field  in  full  bloom.  ...  It  was  on  a  Sabbath 
morning,  the  day  in  which  the  British  were  always  em- 
ployed about  their  deviltry,  because,  they  said,  they  had 
the  prayers  of  the  church  on  that  day.  We  lay  very  quiet 
in  our  ditch  waiting  their  motions  till  the  sun  was  an  hour 
or  two  high.  We  heard  a  cannonade  at  the  city,  but  our 
attention  was  drawn  to  our  own  guests.  But  they  being  a 
little  dilatory  in  their  operations,  I  stepped  into  an  old 
warehouse  which  stood  close  by  me  with  the  door  open  in- 
viting me  in,  and  sat  down  upon  a  stool  ;  the  floor  was 
strewed  with  papers  which  had  in  some  former  period  been 
used  in  the  concerns  of  the  house,  but  were  then  lying  in 
woful  confusion.  I  was  very  demurely  perusing  these 
papers  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  there  came  such  a  peal  of 
thunder  from  the  British  shipping  that  I  thought  my  head 
would  go  with  the  sound.  I  made  a  frog's  leap  for  the 
ditch  and  lay  as  still  as  I  possibly  could,  and  began  to  con- 
sider which  part  of  my  carcass  was  to  go  first.  The  British 
played  their  parts  well  ;  indeed  they  had  nothing  to  hinder 
them.  We  kept  the  lines  till  they  were  almost  levelled 
upon  us,  when  our  officers,  seeing  we  could  make  no  re- 
sistance, and  no  orders  coming  from  any  superior  officer,  and 
that  we  must  soon  be  entirely  exposed  to  the  rake  of  the 
guns,  gave  the  order  to  leave  the  lines.  In  retreating  we 
had  to  cross  a  level  clear  spot  of  ground,  forty  or  fifty  rods 
wide,  exposed  to  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  fire  ;  and  they 
gave  it  to  us  in  prime  order  ;  the  grape-shot  and  langrage 


Bescrips 
tion  of 
tbe  3Sn= 
counter 


358 


Ube  Battle  ot  Ibarlem  1bei(jbts 


S>escrip= 
tion  of 
tbe  En» 
counter 


flew  merrily,  which  served  to  quicken  our  motions.  When 
I  had  gotten  a  little  out  of  the  reach  of  their  combustibles  1 
found  myself  in  company  with  one  who  was  a  neighbor  of 
mine  when  at  home,  and  one  other  man  belonging  to  our 
regiment ;  where  the  rest  of  them  were  I  knew  not.  .  .  . 
We  had  not  gone  far  (along  the  highway)  before  we  saw  a 
party  of  men  apparently  hurrying  on  in  the  same  direction 
with  ourselves  ;  we  endeavored  hard  to  overtake  them,  but 
on  approaching  them  we  found  that  they  were  not  of  our 
way  of  thinking  ;  they  were  Hessians  !  We  immediately 
altered  our  course  and  took  the  main  road  leading  to  King's 
bridge.  We  had  not  long  been  on  this  road  before  we  saw 
another  party  just  ahead  of  us  whom  we  knew  to  be  Ameri- 
cans ;  just  as  we  overtook  these  they  were  fired  upon  by  a 
party  of  British  from  a  cornfield,  and  all  was  immediately  in 
confusion  again.  I  believe  the  enemies'  party  was  small  ; 
but  our  people  were  all  militia,  and  the  demons  of  fear  and 
disorder  seemed  to  take  full  possession  of  all  and  everything 
on  that  day.  .  .  .  They  did  not  tarry  to  let  the  grass  grow 
much  under  their  feet."  le 

But  the  ordeal  was  something  which  even 
veteran  troops  could  not  have  withstood. 
"The  fire  of  the  shipping,"  wrote  General 
Howe  to  Lord  Germain,  "being  so  well  di- 
rected and  so  incessant,  the  enemy  could  not 
remain  in  their  works  and  the  descent  was 
made  without  the  least  opposition."  "  This 
statement  of  the  British  commander  will  go 
far  to  extenuate  the  conduct  of  the  militia, 
disheartened  as  they  were  by  the  disaster  on 
Long  Island,  and  terrified  by  the  swarms  of 
British  troops  as  well  as  by  the  thunderous 
roar  from  the  frigates.  Then,  too,  the  know- 
ledge that  their  countrymen  were  safe  at  Har- 


Ube  Battle  ot  Tbaclem  Ibeigbts 


359 


lem  Heights  was  no  small  incentive  to  rapidity 
in  flight.  The  Americans  stationed  at  East 
Twenty-third  Street  soon  joined  them,  and 
together  they  hastened  along  the  Kingsbridge 
road  (Lexington  Avenue). 

As  soon  as  the  boom  of  cannon  reached  his 
ears,  Washington  mounted  his  horse  and  sped 
along  the  four  miles  intervening  between  Har- 
lem and  the  scene  of  action.  Near  Park  Ave- 
nue and  Fortieth  Street,  what  were  his  horror 
and  consternation  to  behold  the  Americans 
flying  in  all  directions,  while  scarce  a  half  mile 
away  the  dust  was  rising  under  the  feet  of  the 
pursuing  British  and  Hessians.  Riding  ex- 
citedly into  the  midst  of  the  runaways,  he 
shouted:  "Take  to  the  wall!  Take  to  the 
cornfield  !  "  Beside  himself  with  wrath  and 
mortification  at  seeing  his  commands  dis- 
obeyed, he  lashed  the  fugitives  with  his  riding- 
whip,  flung  his  hat  upon  the  ground,  and  cried 
in  accents  choked  with  passion,  "Are  these 
the  men  with  whom  I  am  to  defend  America  ?" 
Indeed  so  blind  was  he  to  all  sense  of  danger 
that,  had  not  one  of  his  attendants  seized  the 
bridle  of  his  horse  and  turned  the  animal's 
head  in  the  opposite  direction,  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  might  have  terminated  then  and 
there.18  Regaining  his  self-possession,  the 
commander-in-chief  permitted  the  demoral- 
ized militia  to  continue  their  stampede  toward 
Harlem  Heights,  although  in  his  report  to 


•Retreat 
from 


3<5° 


Battle  of  Ibarlem  Dei^bts 


IRetccat 
from 

Tkip's 


Congress  he  did  not  fail  to  denounce  their 
conduct  as  "disgraceful  and  dastardly."  19  He 
then  ordered  the  immediate  retreat  of  Putnam. 

The  story  of  how  Mrs.  Mary  Murray,  wife 
of  Robert  Murray,  whose  farm  included  most 
of  the  "commanding  height  of  Inclenberg  " 
(now  Murray  Hill),  entertained  the  British 
generals  so  hospitably  that  Putnam  and  most 
of  the  remnants  of  the  patriot  army  still  in  the 
city  managed  to  elude  the  enemy  and  gain  the 
heights  in  safety,  is  too  well  known  to  bear 
repetition."  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  cake 
and  wine  and  geniality  of  this  lady,  who  re- 
sponded with  rare  tact  and  good  humor  to  the 
bantering  of  the  British  officers  on  her  rebel 
sympathies,  as  effectually  "bowed  "  her  guests 
"at  her  feet" — for  a  while  at  least — as  the 
hammer  and  tent-nail  of  Jael,  the  wife  of  Heber 
the  Kenite,  had  done  in  detaining  Sisera,  the 
captain  of  the  Canaanitish  host,  when  "he 
asked  water  and  she  gave  him  milk,"  when 
"  she  brought  forth  butter  in  a  lordly  dish." 

After  having  completed  their  debarkation, 
the  British  drew  up  their  lines  across  the 
island  from  the  foot  of  East  Eighty-ninth 
Street  to  the  foot  of  West  Ninety-sixth  Street, 
or  Striker's  Bay  as  it  was  then  called,  the 
pickets  being  stationed  between  that  street 
and  West  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  Street. 
Gen.  Howe's  headquarters  were  at  the  Beek- 
man  mansion fl  (Fifty-first  Street  and  First 


ZTbe  Battle  of  Ibarlem 


Avenue),  while  Sir  Henry  Clinton  took  up 
his  residence  at  the  Apthorpe  house  (Ninety- 
first  Street  and  Columbus  Avenue).  And  in 
general  this  was  the  position  of  the  British  for 
nearly  a  month.  Of  the  two  positions,  how- 
ever, that  of  the  Americans  was  the  stronger. 
Beginning  at  Washington's  headquarters,  One 
Hundred  and  Sixty-first  Street,  the  camp  ex- 
tended southward  to  the  "  Hollow  Way,"  or 
the  valley  now  comprised  between  West  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  and  West 
One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Street,  through 
the  centre  of  which  runs  Manhattan  Street. 
At  the  eastern  end  of  this  depression  was  a 
rugged  spur  called  the  "Point  of  Rocks" 
(One  Hundred  and  Twenty-sixth  Street  and 
Columbus  Avenue),  used  by  the  Americans  as 
a  lookout  station,  whence  Harlem  Plains  could 
be  surveyed  as  far  as  McGowan's  Pass  ; 
while  the  western  portion  terminated  in  a 
round  marshy  meadow  known  as  Matje 
David's  Vly,  a  little  to  the  south  of  Fort  Lee 
ferry.  With  the  Hudson  on  the  right,  the 
valley  in  front,  the  plains  on  the  left,  and 
the  rear  protected  by  Fort  Washington  and 
the  troops  at  Kingsbridge,  the  whole  well 
screened  by  woods  and  thickets,  the  Ameri- 
cans could  feel  that  the  addition  of  a  few 
redoubts  and  entrenchments  would  make 
these  natural  fortifications  impregnable.  Ac- 
cordingly three  parallel  lines  of  defensive 


Ube 

position 

of  lUasb= 

ington'a 


362 


ZTbe  JSattle  of  "fcarlem  f>eicjbts 


Effect 

of  tbe 

Encounter 

at  -Rip's 


works  were  constructed  between  One  Hun- 
dred and  Forty-seventh  Street  and  One 
Hundred  and  Sixty-first  Street,  while  a  divi- 
sion of  soldiers  under  Greene  was  posted  near 
the  southern  edge  of  the  heights  overlooking 
the  "Hollow  Way,"  to  guard  against  an 
assault  from  that  direction. 

The  unfortunate  issue  of  the  encounter  at 
Kip's  Bay  made  precisely  the  same  impression 
upon  the  minds  of  British  and  Americans  as 
had  the  battle  of  Long  Island  ;  the  former  it 
confirmed  in  their  belief  of  absolute  superiority, 
the  spirits  of  the  latter  it  depressed  until 
many  had  lost  practically  all  confidence  in  their 
officers  and  in  themselves.  For  the  moment 
even  nature  seemed  intent  upon  rendering 
their  lot  still  harder  to  bear.  The  well  housed 
and  equipped  soldiers  of  the  king  were  in 
forcible  contrast  to  the  poorly  provided  soldiers 
of  the  republic,  who,  says  Colonel  Humphreys, 


"excessively  fatigued  by  the  sultry  march  of  the  day,  their 
clothes  wet  by  a  severe  shower  of  rain  that  succeeded  to- 
wards the  evening,  their  blood  chilled  by  the  cold  wind  that 
produced  a  sudden  change  in  the  temperature  of  the  air,  and 
their  hearts  sunk  within  them,  .  .  .  lay  upon  their  arms 
covered  only  by  the  clouds  of  an  uncomfortable  sky."8* 

But  amid  all  the  gloom  and  depression  the 
leader  of  the  American  army  never  lost  his 
faith  in  the  ultimate  courage  of  the  American 
soldier,  however  much  the  timidity  of  the 
militia  aroused  his  indignation.  His  power 


Battle  of  Ibarlem  Ibeigbts 


of  keen  discernment  showed  him,  further,  that, 
if  a  fortified  camp  was  a  haven  of  refuge  to  a 
soldiery  hard  pressed  by  the  enemy,  so  also  it 
might  be  a  tower  of  strength  wherein  the 
very  sense  of  security  would  inspire  the 
former  fugitives  with  a  zeal  for  action,  and,  by 
giving  them  an  opportunity  to  display  their 
native  courage,  aid  them  to  regain  the  con- 
fidence which  before  had  failed  them.  Under 
such  circumstances  Washington  might  well 
say,  "  I  trust  that  there  are  many  who  will  act 
like  men  and  show  themselves  worthy  of  the 
blessings  of  freedom."83  Appreciating  the 
strength  of  his  position,  he  determined  "to 
habituate  his  soldiers  by  a  series  of  successful 
skirmishes  to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  field." 
This  determination  was  realized  in  the  battle 
of  Harlem  Heights. 

Sloping  upward  from  the  southern  line  of 
the  "  Hollow  Way  "  was  another  elevation  of 
land,  then  known  as  Bloomingdale  or  Vande- 
water's  Heights,  and  now  called  Morningside 
Heights.  In  1776,  it  was  occupied  and  partly 
cultivated  by  its  owners,  Adrian  Hoaglandt 
and  Benjamin  Vandewater.  The  space  of 
land  about  a  mile  in  extent  between  the 
present  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  Street  and 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  west 
of  Columbus  Avenue,  was  the  "debatable 
ground,"  and  the  scene  of  the  battle  of  Har- 
lem Heights.  It  effectually  hid  the  opposing 


Ube 
Debatable 


364 


Ube  Battle  of  Ibarlem  IbeiQbts 


Ube 

Dangers 


forces  from  each  other.  Now,  whereas  an 
advance  of  the  British  from  the  direction  of 
Harlem  Plains  could  be  easily  observed  by 
the  American  lookouts  on  the  "Point  of 
Rocks,"  no  movement  from  behind  Morning- 
side  Heights  would  be  perceptible  before  the 
"Hollow  Way"  had  been  reached.  It  was 
not  to  be  supposed  that  an  enemy  flushed 
with  success  in  the  recent  campaign  would 
long  hesitate  to  assail  the  American  strong- 
hold. Desirous  of  guarding  against  a  flank 
attack,  especially  from  the  vicinity  of  Morn- 
ingside,  early  in  the  morning  of  Monday, 
September  16,  Washington  sent  a  body  of 
scouts  to  ascertain  what  preparations  the 
enemy  were  making.  He  himself  then  rode 
from  headquarters  down  to  the  outposts  at 
the  "  Hollow  Way."  The  men  selected  were 
the  Rangers,  consisting  of  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  picked  volunteers  from  New  Eng- 
land regiments,  and  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Thomas  Knowlton,  who  had  done 
gallant  service  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
Proceeding  cautiously  under  cover  of  the 
woods,  probably  along  the  line  of  what  is 
now  Riverside  Drive,  Knowlton  and  his  men 
had  arrived  at  the  farmhouse  of  Nicholas  Jones 
(One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Street,  west  of  the 
Boulevard)  before  the  British  pickets  stationed 
on  One  Hundred  and  Fourth  Street  were 
startled  by  the  report  of  shots  fired  at  close 


Ube  Battle  of  Ibarlem 


365 


range,  and  spied  the  forms  of  the  Americans 
through  the  trees.36  The  alarm  was  instantly 
sounded,  whereat  a  portion  of  the  second  and 
third  battalions  of  light  infantry,  numbering 
upwards  of  three  hundred,  started  to  drive 
back  the  audacious  rebels.  In  gleeful  expect- 
ation that  this  second  installment  of  Kip's 
Bay  militia,  as  they  thought,  would  fly  from 
before  them  with  the  utmost  terror  and  dis- 
may, the  British  regulars  hurried  on.  But 
suddenly  they  were  brought  to  a  stop.  Upon 
falling  back  a  short  distance,  Knowlton  had 
posted  his  men  behind  a  stone  wall  and  bid- 
den them  "  not  to  rise  or  fire  a  gun  "  till  the 
British  were  ten  rods  away.  Scarcely  had 
the  first  redcoat  crossed  the  "dead  line," 
when  a  blaze  of  fire  shot  from  the  stone  wall, 
and  the  astounded  infantry  fell  back  in  dire 
consternation.  Then  for  some  time  the  woods 
echoed  with  the  sharp  crack  of  musketry  in  a 
skirmish.  At  length  Knowlton,  perceiving 
that  the  superior  numbers  of  the  foe  menaced 
his  flank,  commanded  a  retreat,  which  was 
effected  in  good  order  and  without  the  loss 
of  a  man.98 

Meanwhile  a  rumor  spread  through  the 
American  camp  that  the  enemy  were  ap- 
proaching in  three  columns,  whereupon  Adju- 
tant-General Reed  obtained  permission  from 
the  commander-in-chief  to  learn  its  truth. 
Riding  hastily  from  the  "Point  of  Rocks"  in 


tRetreat 

of  tbe 
•Rangers 


366 


ZTbe  IBattle  of  Ibarlem  Tbeigbts 


Ube 

•Retreat 
of  tbe 

IRangcrs 


the  direction  Knowlton  had  taken,  he  reached 
the  scene  of  skirmish  as  it  was  about  to  be- 
gin. "While  I  was  talking  with  the  officer," 
he  writes,  "the  enemy's  advanced  guard  fired 
upon  us  at  a  small  distance;  our  men  behaved 
well,  stood,  and  returned  the  fire  till,  over- 
powered by  numbers,  they  were  obliged  to 
retreat."  He  further  states  that  the  British 
came  on  so  quickly  that  he  had  not  left  a 
house  (probably  Hoaglandt's,  One  Hundred 
and  Fifteenth  Street  and  Riverside  Drive)  five 
minutes  before  they  had  seized  it.  The  light 
infantry  continued  the  pursuit  through  the 
fields  and  woods  of  Hoaglandt's  farm  as  far 
as  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Grant's 
tomb.  The  sight  of  the  scampering  rebels 
restored  the  gleefulness  which  they  had 
lost  near  the  stone  wall,  and,  advancing 
within  plain  view  of  the  Americans  on  the 
heights  beyond,  they  derisively  "  sounded 
their  bugle-horns,  as  is  usual  after  a  fox- 
chase."  The  insult  showed  the  contempt  in 
which  their  adversaries  held  the  Americans, 
who  three  times  within  three  weeks  had  fled 
before  his  Majesty's  regulars, — once  on  Long 
Island,  once  at  Kip's  Bay,  and  now  on  the 
heights  just  opposite  their  own  camp.  "I 
never  felt  such  a  sensation  before,"  says  Reed; 
"it  seemed  to  crown  our  disgrace."  " 

The  appearance  of  the  enemy  produced  the 
natural  impression  that  Harlem  Heights  were 


JSattle  of  Ibarlem 


367 


to  be  carried  by  storm.  Preparations  were, 
therefore,  being  made  for  a  vigorous  defense, 
when  Reed  dashed  up  to  the  commander-in- 
chief,  "to  get  some  support  for  the  brave 
fellows  who  had  behaved  so  well."  28  With 
characteristic  caution,  however,  Washington 
declined  at  first  to  hazard  his  men  until  exact 
information  of  the  British  strength  and  posi- 
tion could  be  obtained.  For  the  present  he 
felt  that  a  weakened  and  somewhat  despond- 
ent army  was  hardly  capable  of  engaging 
advantageously  in  a  general  conflict.  At  this 
juncture  Colonel  Knowlton  and  the  Rangers 
brought  the  news  that  the  enemy  were  about 
three  hundred  strong,  and  detached  more 
than  a  mile  from  the  main  body.  Washing- 
ton now  saw  his  opportunity  to  cut  off  this 
detachment  ere  it  could  be  reinforced  from 
below,  and  thereby,  as  he  says,  to  "recover 
that  military  ardor  which  is  of  the  utmost 
moment  to  an  army."  "  If  a  general  engage- 
ment could  not  be  risked,  a  lively  and  suc- 
cessful skirmish  would  furnish  the  very  tonic 
of  energy  and  enthusiasm  then  so  sadly  need- 
ed. Still  the  American  commander  realized 
that  an  attack  wholly  in  front  would  not  only 
involve  the  ascent  of  the  steep  Morningside 
Heights,  from  the  top  of  which  the  well- 
posted  British  could  pour  a  galling  fire,  but 
might  result  in  no  more  than  driving  them 
back  upon  the  main  body — a  contingency  he 


Ube 

•Retreat 

of  tbe 

•Rangers 


368 


Battle  of  Ibarlem  Ibeigbts 


Bttempt 

to  fall 

upon  tbe 


•Rear 


wished  most  to  avoid.  Curiously  enough, 
however,  this  was  the  very  thing  that 
eventually  happened,  although  not  with  the 
consequences  he  had  anticipated.  The  con- 
summate soldier,  who  had  learned  the  art  of 
stratagem  from  many  an  Indian  adversary  in  the 
tangled  forests  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania, 
resolved  to  make  a  feint  in  front,  while  a  body  of 
picked  men  should  stealthily  creep  round  to 
the  left  and  fall  upon  the  enemy's  rear.  For 
this  purpose  he  chose  about  two  hundred  vol- 
unteers, consisting  of  Knowlton  and  his  Rang- 
ers, together  with  three  companies  of  Virginia 
riflemen  under  the  command  of  Major  Leitch. 
Starting  from  their  position  near  the  grounds 
of  the  present  Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Street  and  Con- 
vent Avenue,  Knowlton  and  Leitch,  accom- 
panied by  Reed,  made  their  way  diagonally 
down  the  slope,  across  the  now  intervening 
numbered  streets  and  Amsterdam  Avenue, 
near  its  junction  with  Manhattan  Street,  and 
proceeded  toward  a  rocky  ledge,  not  far  from 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  Street  and 
the  Boulevard.  If  once  they  reached  this 
point  unobserved  they  could  assail  the  enemy 
from  the  rear,  and  thus,  catching  them  be- 
tween two  fires,  compel  their  surrender. 
Stirred  by  the  thought  of  this  brilliant  pro- 
spect, the  intrepid  Americans  eagerly  hurried 
onward. 


Ube  battle  of  Ibarlem  1bel0bts 


569 


In  the  meantime  Washington  directed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  volunteers,  under  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Crary,  to  proceed  from  the  vicinity 
of  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fifth  Street  and 
the  Boulevard  straight  down  to  the  "  Hollow 
Way,"  but  not  to  make  any  real  attack  till 
they  saw  that  the  venture  of  the  flanking- 
party  had  proved  successful.80  The  bait  read- 
ily attracted  the  confident  British.  Running 
down  the  hill  across  Claremont  Avenue  to  the 
Boulevard  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
seventh  Street,  they  crouched  behind  some 
fences  and  bushes,  whereupon  "a  smart  fir- 
ing began  but  at  too  great  a  distance  to  do 
much  execution  on  either  side." 31  How- 
ever, if  the  British  could  only  be  kept  where 
they  were,  or  enticed  still  further  toward 
the  American  lines,  Knowlton  and  Leitch 
would  reach  the  desired  position,  and  the 
light  infantry  would  be  prisoners.  At  this 
moment  Washington  judged  it  expedient  to 
reinforce  Crary's  courageous  volunteers,  and 
for  nearly  an  hour  the  contest  continued.  As 
they  dodged  behind  tree,  rock,  bush,  fence,  or 
other  point  of  vantage,  the  skirmishers  on 
both  sides  watched  their  opportunity  to  pick 
off  an  unwary  bluecoat  or  redcoat.  Ere  long 
the  British  were  forced  to  retreat  up  the  slope 
of  the  hill  to  a  field  about  six  hundred  feet 
southwest  of  their  first  position,  "  where  they 
lodged  themselves  behind  a  fence  covered 


•lie  utciv= 

aiu=Celo= 

nel  Crars 

and  bis 

Woluns 

teera 


37° 


Ube  Battle  ot  Tbarlem  Tbeigbts 


Ubc 

Httacfc 

b\:  tbc 

tRangere 


with  bushes  "  ss  (One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
fourth  Street  and  the  Boulevard).  But  this 
was  the  objective  point  which  Knowlton's 
party  was  straining  every  nerve  to  attain.  As 
luck  would  have  it,  just  as  the  American  rang- 
ers and  riflemen  were  clambering  over  the 
rocky  ledge  referred  to,  they  spied  the  red- 
coats almost  directly  in  front  of  them.  So  far 
as  it  was  an  attempt  to  hem  in  the  British 
from  the  rear  the  project  had  failed  ;  the  at- 
tack must  now  be  made  on  the  flank.  One 
explanation  of  the  failure  is,  that  through 
some  "misapprehension,"  as  Washington 
says,  the  Americans  "unluckily  began  their 
attack  too  soon."  "  Another  is,  that  some 
subordinate  officers,  in  their  enthusiasm  to 
meet  the  enemy,  disregarded  the  commands 
of  their  superiors  and  took  the  wrong  road 
—commenting  on  which  behavior,  in  his  gen- 
eral orders,  issued  the  following  day,  Wash- 
ington declared  that  "the  loss  of  the  enemy 
.  .  .  undoubtedly  would  have  been  much 
greater  if  the  orders  of  the  commander-in- 
chief  had  not  in  some  instance  been  contra- 
dicted by  ...  inferior  officers,  who,  however 
well  they  may  mean,  ought  not  to  presume  to 
direct."  '*  But  perhaps  the  unexpected  retreat 
of  the  British  and  their  arrival  at  the  fence 
in  question  just  as  the  foremost  Americans 
emerged  from  the  rocks  on  their  right,  give 
the  best  explanation,  and  in  its  light  the  reck- 


ZTbe  Battle  of  fbarlem 


371 


lessness  of  the  American  soldier  and  the  pre- 
sumption of  the  American  officer  become 
transfigured  into  the  headlong  zeal  and  self- 
confident  enthusiasm  that  betoken  the  militant 
patriot. 

Wherever  the  mistake  might  lie,  this  was 
no  time  for  conjecture.  Their  comrades  had 
driven  the  enemy  before  them;  the  gallant 
example  was  theirs  to  emulate.  Headed  by 
Leitch  and  Knowlton,  the  riflemen  and  Rang- 
ers rushed  upon  the  British  and  a  sharp  action 
ensued.  In  a  few  minutes  the  two  leaders 
fell,  mortally  wounded,  the  former  lingering  a 
few  days,  the  latter  expiring  within  an  hour. 
To  one  of  his  officers  who  bent  tenderly  over 
him  as  the  light  of  triumph  in  his  eyes  dark- 
ened and  the  din  of  battle  in  his  ears  grew 
fainter,  the  dying  hero  of  Bunker  Hill  whis- 
pered, "  I  do  not  value  my  life  if  we  do  but 
get  the  day."  3S  To  his  eldest  son,  a  soldier- 
boy  of  only  fifteen  years,  he  uttered  his  last 
command,  "  Go,  fight  for  your  country  !  " 38 
Thus  perished  an  officer  "whose  name  and 
spirit  ought  to  be  immortalized,"  says  Reed ; 37 
"the  gallant  and  brave  Colonel  Knowlton 
...  an  honor  to  any  country  .  .  .  who  had 
fallen  gloriously  fighting  at  his  post,"  says 
Washington.38 

Meanwhile  the  struggle  was  being  fiercely 
maintained.  Incited  to  vengeance  by  the  loss 
of  their  leaders,  the  Americans  "continued 


Ube 

Scatb  of 

Colonel 

Iknowlton 


372 


Battle  of  ttmrlem  Tbeigbts 


Conflict 
at  tbe 


wbeat 
ftcft 


the  engagement  with  the  greatest  resolu- 
tion,"" and  soon  the  British  were  dislodged 
from  their  position  near  the  fence.  The 
Americans  then  "pursued  them  to  a  buck- 
wheat field  on  the  top  of  a  high  hill,  distance 
about  four  hundred  paces."40  Here  the  re- 
spective antagonists  were  reinforced  and  the 
British  made  a  determined  stand.  The  day's 
campaign  had  opened  with  an  attempt  to  cap- 
ture the  light  troops  whose  "ungovernable 
impetuosity,"  wrote  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  drew 
them  into  the  "scrape."41  The  attempt  had 
failed,  and  an  open  conflict  had  resulted.  But, 
instead  of  remaining  strictly  consistent  with 
his  purpose  of  avoiding  anything  like  a  gen- 
eral engagement,  the  prudence  of  Washington 
succumbed  to  surprise  and  delight  at  the  vim 
and  courage  his  soldiers  were  displaying. 
Hence  he  despatched  to  their  aid  about  fifteen 
hundred  men,  a  number  of  whom  had  been 
runaways  at  Kip's  Bay  hardly  twenty-four 
hours  previous.  If  the  panic-stricken  militia 
proved  to  be  excellent  in  a  foot-race  when  the 
British  were  the  pursuers,  here  was  another 
chance  for  them  to  show  their  vigor  at  run- 
ning— but  this  time  with  the  positions  re- 
versed. Had  Washington  any  misgivings 
when  he  resolved  to  try  the  mettle  of  the 
skittish  militia  under  more  favorable  circum- 
stances, his  anxiety  vanished  when  he  beheld 
the  fugitives  of  yesterday  valiantly  supporting 


ZIbe  Battle  of  Ibarlem  Ibeigbts  373 


their   comrades,    and   charging    "the  enemy      -Ketreat 

of  tbe 
JBritteb 


with  great   intrepidity.""     Scarcely  had  the       oftbe 


buckwheat  field  been  reached  when  the 
remainder  of  the  light  infantry,  the  Forty- 
second  Highlanders,  and  a  company  of  Hes- 
sians came  up  with  two  field-pieces.  Then 
occurred  the  real  battle  of  Harlem  Heights — 
or  to  speak  somewhat  more  precisely,  Morn- 
ingside  Heights — "a  smart  action,"  observes 
a  Maryland  colonel,  "  in  the  true  bush-fighting 
way,  in  which  our  troops  behaved  in  a  man- 
ner that  does  them  the  highest  honor."  " 
During  nearly  two  hours  the  conflict  raged  for 
the  possession  of  the  buckwheat  field.  Ter- 
rible as  were  the  British  with  the  bayonet, 
they  proved  no  match  for  the  accurate  marks- 
manship of  the  Americans.  The  field,  snowy 
with  the  blossoms  of  coming  harvest,  an  hour 
before  peacefully  smiling  under  the  rays  of  a 
September  sun,  was  now  ruthlessly  trampled 
by  the  hurrying  feet  of  the  combatants,  its 
sunlight  obscured  by  a  pall  of  dust  and  smoke, 
its  whiteness  reddened  by  the  life-blood  of 
many  a  valiant  soldier  who  furrowed,  as  he 
fell,  its  forest  of  waving  grain.  Still,  though 
the  harvest  of  grain  might  be  destroyed,  a 
harvest  of  hope  was  to  be  garnered.  An- 
other impetuous  charge  and  the  British  were 
driven  headlong  from  the  field.  Exhilarated 
by  the  sight  of  their  fleeing  enemies,  the 
Americans  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  novel  sensa- 


374 


Ube  Battle  of  Ibarlem  t>eiQbts 


tRetreat 

ofSSttttsb 


tion  of  a  fox-chase,  in  which   they  did   not 
personate  the  fox  ! 

In  an  orchard  near  the  Boulevard  and  One 
Hundred  and  Twelfth  Street  the  British  again 
stood  their  ground ;  but  the  onward  rush  of 
the  Americans  could  not  be  borne.  Once 
more  the  enemy  fled  "across  a  hollow  and 
up  another  hill  not  far  distant  from  their  own 
lines."  44  Here  in  the  vicinity  of  Jones's  house 
(One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Street  west  of  the 
Boulevard),  where  the  contest  had  begun  in 
the  morning,  it  ended  about  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  For  hardly  had  the  redcoats 
left  the  orchard,  when  Washington,  surmis- 
ing that  reinforcements  would  soon  arrive, 
"judged  it  prudent  to  order  a  retreat."  "  But, 
says  Reed,  "the  pursuit  of  a  flying  enemy 
was  so  new  a  scene,  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty our  men  could  be  brought  to  retreat."" 
At  length  "they  gave  a  Hurra!  and  left. the 
field  in  good  order,"47  just  as  the  foremost 
columns  of  the  British  reinforcements  ap- 
peared. From  Jones's  house  to  the  "  Hollow 
Way "  the  redcoat  had  pursued  the  blue- 
coat;  from  the  "Hollow  Way"  to  Jones's 
house  the  bluecoat  chased  the  redcoat,  or, 
in  the  somewhat  picturesque  language  of 
Captain  Brown  of  the  Rangers,  "drove  the 
dogs  near  three  miles."  4S  The  derisive  bugle 
call  of  the  morning  was  answered  by  the  ex- 
ultant hurrah  of  the  afternoon. 


Battle  ot  Ibarlem  TbeiQbts 


375 


"  Hail  to  the  shades  where  Freedom  dwelt ! 

Where  wild  flowers  deck  her  martyrs'  grave, 
Where  Britain's  minions  keenly  felt 
The  stern  resistance  of  the  brave. 

' '  'T  was  here  in  firm  array  they  stood — 
Here  met  Oppression's  giant  power  ; 
Here  nobly  poured  their  sacred  blood, 
And  victory  crowned  their  dying  hour."  49 

The  effect  of  this  encounter  on  the  droop- 
ing spirits  of  the  Americans  was  simply 
magical.  "  A  most  timely  and  well  delivered 
return  stroke,"  observes  Professor  Johnston, 
"it  revived  the  energies  of  our  army,  and  had 
its  influence  in  compelling  another  delay  in 
the  enemy's  movements."  60  Its  effect  is  seen 
in  the  glow  of  joyful  hope  that  pervaded  the 
hearts  of  the  patriot  soldiers.  "  I  assure  you 
it  has  given  another  face  of  things  in  our 
army,"  writes  Reed  ;  "the  men  have  recov- 
ered their  spirits,  and  feel  a  confidence  which 
before  they  had  quite  lost."  "  "The  impres-  ( 
sion  it  made  upon  the  minds  of  our  people," 
says  Major  Morris,  "is  [that  of]  a  most  signal 
victory."62  "Our  troops,"  declares  Major 
Shaw,  "behaved  with  as  much  bravery  as 
men  possibly  could.  .  .  .  Now  or  never 
is  the  time  to  make  a  stand,  and  rather  than 
quit  our  post  [we  will]  be  sacrificed  to  a 
man.""  "An  advantage  so  trivial  in  itself," 
remarks  Colonel  Humphreys,  "produced,  in 
event,  a  surprising  and  almost  incredible  effect 


, 

J6ffect 
upon  tbe 
Bmetican 

Hrnve 


376 


Ube  Battle  ot  Ibarlem  Ibeiabts 


Ubc 

Effect 

upon  tbe 

Bmerican 


upon  the  whole  army.  Amongst  the  troops 
.  .  .  every  visage  was  seen  to  brighten, 
and  to  assume,  instead  of  the  gloom  of  de- 
spair, the  glow  of  animation."  M  Colonel  Silli- 
man  and  General  Knox  take  about  the  same 
view.  Says  the  former:  "They  [i.e.,  the 
British]  have  found  now  that  when  we  meet 
them  on  equal  ground  we  are  not  a  set  of 
people  that  will  run  from  them,  but  that  they 
have  .  .  .  had  a  pretty  good  drubbing."  " 
Says  the  latter  :  "They  [i.  e.,  the  Americans] 
find  that  if  they  stick  to  these  mighty  men 
they  will  run  as  fast  as  other  people."  "  In- 
deed, General  Greene  somewhat  extravagantly 
asserts  that,  with  good  discipline  and  leader- 
ship, the  Americans  "might  bid  defiance  to 
the  whole  world."  "  And  what  words  of 
commendation  had  the  commander-in-chief 
to  bestow?  In  the  general  orders  issued 
the  next  day  Washington  "most  heartily" 
thanked  the  troops  for  their  courageous  be- 
havior, and  added:  "  Once  more  .  .  .  the 
general  calls  upon  officers  and  men  to  act  up 
to  the  noble  cause  in  which  they  are  engaged, 
and  support  the  honor  and  liberties  of  their 
country.""  The  crisis  had  passed.  The 
doubts  of  Washington  as  to  the  staying  quali- 
ties of  the  American  soldier  vanished  with 
the  receding  forms  of  the  enemy.  The  morti- 
fication of  yesterday  was  replaced  by  the 
gratification  of  to-day.  The  success  for  which 


Battle  of  Ibarlem  Ibeiabts 


377 


he  had  so  earnestly  wished,  to  retrieve  mis- 
fortune and  infuse  new  courage,  had  been 
attained.  Henceforth  the  devotion  of  the 
American  soldier  to  his  chief  was  only  equalled 
by  the  confidence  of  that  chief  in  his  soldier. 

Because  the  Americans  who  had  enjoyed 
the  rare  sport  of  chasing  their  enemies  for 
over  a  mile,  and,  deeming  it  unwise  to  attack 
the  main  body,  had  reluctantly  withdrawn, 
the  British  construed  the  "affair  of  outposts  "  " 
at  Harlem  Heights  into  a  victory  for  themselves. 
According  to  General  Howe,  they  "repulsed 
the  enemy  with  considerable  loss,  and  obliged 
them  to  retire  within  their  works  "  "  ;  and  in 
his  orders  of  September  17,  he  "entertains 
the  highest  opinion  of  the  bravery  of  the  few 
troops  that  yesterday  beat  back  a  very  supe- 
rior body  of  the  rebels,"  although  he  disap- 
proves, the  "want  of  attention  in  the  light 
companies  pursuing  the  rebels  without  .  .  . 
proper  discretion."  "  Colonel  von  Donop, 
however,  who  commanded  the  Hessians, 
comes  nearer  the  truth  when  he  modestly  ob- 
serves that  had  it  not  been  for  his  "Yagers 
(riflemen),  two  regiments  of  Highlanders  and 
the  British  infantry  would  have  all  perhaps 
been  captured."83  But  the  utterance  of  an 
English  officer,  as  related  by  an  American 
prisoner  on  one  of  his  Majesty's  ships,  affords 
the  best  commentary  on  the  events  of  Sep- 
tember 15  and  1 6,  at  Kip's  Bay  and  Harlem 


JGritisb 
Wew  of 
tbe  J6n= 
counter 


378 


Ube  JSattle  of  t>arlem  Deigbts 


present 
Site  of  tbe 
Encounter 


Heights.  It  seems  that,  on  the  evening  after 
the  unfortunate  occurrence  at  Kip's  Bay,  this 
officer  went  on  board  denouncing  "the  Yan- 
kees for  runaway  cowards,  and  storming  that 
there  was  no  chance  to  fight  and  get  honor 
and  rise."  Quite  different  the  burden,  if  not  the 
manner,  of  his  complaint  when,  having  fairly 
encountered  the  patriot  soldiers  at  Harlem 
Heights,  he  again  went  on  board  cursing  the 
war,  and  "saying  he  had  found  the  Americans 
would  fight,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  conquer  them."  "  Unwittingly  the  bluster- 
ing soldier  told  the  truth.  From  Harlem  to 
Yorktown  the  story  of  the  Revolution  is  his 
witness. 

On  the  buckwheat -field  of  Morningside 
Heights,  the  American  soldier  studied  and 
learned  a  lesson  of  bravery  in  the  school  of 
warfare.  The  woods  and  fences,  fields  and 
orchards,  have  long  since  disappeared,  but  on 
their  site  the  genius  of  education  still  lives  to 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  that  lesson,  and  of 
that  school,  in  the  mind  of  the  American 
student, — on  their  site  arise  to-day  the  stately 
buildings  of  Barnard  College  and  Columbia 
University.  Here,  in  the  centre  of  what  once 
was  the  buckwheat-field — the  historic  land- 
mark of  a  victory  in  war — stands  Barnard  Col- 
lege, a  magnificent  memorial  of  a  far  grander 
victory  in  peace,  of  a  victory  over  the  nar- 
rowness of  Revolutionary  days,  of  a  victory 


Battle  of  tbarlem 


379 


for  the  enlightenment  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, of  a  victory  for  the  higher  education  of 
the  American  woman. 


Ipreeent 
Site  of  tbc 

Encounter 


38o 


tlbe  3Battle  of  tbarlem  Ibeigbts 


•notes 

an& 

•References 


NOTES  AND  REFERENCES. 

For  a  collection  of  original  authorities  on  the  battle  of 
Harlem  Heights,  see  the  appendix  to  JAY,  The  Battle 
of  Harlem  Plains,  Oration  before  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  September  16,  1876;  JOHNSTON, 
The  Campaign  of  1776  around  New  York  and 
Brooklyn — Memoirs  of  the  Long  Island  Historical 
Society,  iii.,  part  ii.  ;  The  Magazine  of  American 
History,  iv.,  pp.  369-375  ;  viii.,  part  i.,  pp.  39-49  ; 
part  ii.,  pp.  627-629  ;  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle  of  Har- 
lem Heights,  pp.  1 25-234.  The  best  account  of  the 
battle — particularly  for  its  precision  in  locating  the 
various  sites  of  the  conflict — is  The  Battle  of  Harlem 
Heights,  by  Professor  HENRY  P.  JOHNSTON  (Columbia 
University  Press).  Indeed,  so  far  as  topographical 
details  are  concerned,  the  present  sketch  is  based  al- 
most wholly  upon  Professor  Johnston's  observations. 
Besides  giving  a  brief  description  of  the  campaign  of 
1 776  around  New  York  City,  Professor  Johnston  also 
critically  reviews  earlier  versions  of  the  battle,  and 
appends  practically  all  the  original  authorities. 

FORCE,  American  Archives,  Fifth  Series,  ii.,  p.  467. 

JOHNSTON,  The  Battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  pp.  141,  142. 

Collections  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  Lee 
Papers,  i.,  p.  309. 

New  York  City  during  the  American  Revolution, 
p.  88. 

JOHNSTON,  The  Campaign  of  1776,  etc.,  part  i.,  pp. 

95,  96. 
JOHNSTON,  The  Correspondence  and  Public  Papers  of 

John  Jay,  i.,  p.  47. 

JOHNSTON,  The  Campaign  of  1776,  etc.,  p.  93,  note. 
IRVING,  Life  of  George  Washington  (1857  ed.),  ii.,pp. 

267-270. 


Ube  JSattle  of  Ibarlem  Ibeiabts 


381 


10.     FORD,  The  Writings  of  George  Washington,  iv.,  pp. 


1  1.     GRAYDON,  Memoirs  of  His  Own  Time,  p.  174. 

12.  Ibid.,  p.  175. 

13.  Journals  of  Congress,  i.,  p.  465. 

14.  [MARTIN],  A  Narrative  of  some  of  the  Adventures, 

Dangers,  and  Sufferings  of  a  Revolutionary  Soldier, 
p.  26. 

15.  For  a  picture  of  this  mansion,  see  The  Magazine  of 

American  History,  xxi.,  p.  3  ;  LOSSING,  Field  Book 
of  the  American  Revolution,  ii.,  p.  609. 

16.  [MARTIN],  A  Narrative,  etc.,  pp.  26-28. 

17.  Upcott  Collection   in  the  library  of  the  New  York 

Historical  Society,  iv.,  p.  41  1. 

1  8.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  pp.  407,408;  FORCE, 
American  Archives,  Fifth  Series,  ii.,  p.  370  ;  HEATH, 
Memoirs,  p.  60  ;  GRAYDON,  Memoirs,  p.  1  74  ;  GOR- 
DON, A  History  of  the  United  States,  ii.,  p.  327  ; 
THACHER,  A  Military  Journal  during  the  American 
Revolutionary  War,  p.  59. 

19.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  408. 

20.  THACHER,  A  Military  Journal,  etc.,  pp.  59,  60  ;  His- 

toric New  York,  i.,  pp.  246,  317. 

21.  LOSSING,  Field  Book,  ii.,  p.  61  1. 

22.  HUMPHREYS,  An  Essay  on  the  Life  of  the  Honorable 

Major-General  Israel  Putnam,  pp.  136,  137. 

23.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  409. 

24.  MARSHALL,  The  Life  of  George  Washington,   ii.,  p. 

465. 

25.  WOODWARD,  Memoir  of  Colonel  Thomas  Knowlton, 

P-  "4- 

26.  The  Connecticut  Gazette  and  the  Universal  Intelli- 

gencer, September  27,  1  776. 

27.  REED,  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Joseph  Reed,  i.,  p. 

237. 

28.  Ibid. 

29.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  471. 


ant 
•References 


382 


TTbe  Battle  ot  Ibarlem  Ibeiabts 


'Motes 

an? 
•(References 


30.  Memoir  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Tench  Tilghman,  p. 

.38. 

31.  FORD,  77w  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  417. 

32.  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  141. 

33.  FORD,  TV**  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  417. 

34.  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  162. 

35.  77w  Connecticut  Gazette,  September  27,  1776. 

36.  WOODWARD,  Memoirs,  etc.,  p.  15. 

37.  REED,  Life  and  Correspondence,  etc.,  i.,  p.  237. 

38.  MARSHALL,  The  Life,  etc.,  ii.,  p.  468. 

39.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  417. 

40.  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  141. 

41.  Ibid. ,  p.  89.     Note  in  the  handwriting  of  Sir  Henry 

Clinton  in  his  copy  of  STEDMAN,  History  of  the 
American  War,  now  in  the  James  Carter  Brown  Li- 
brary, Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

42.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  417. 

43.  LOSSING,  The  American  Historical  Record,  ii.,  p.  260. 

44.  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  141. 

45.  FORD,  The  Writings,  etc.,  iv.,  p.  417. 

46.  Manuscripts  of  Joseph  Reed  in  the  library  of  the  New 

York  Historical  Society,  iv.  :  Joseph  Reed  to  his  wife, 
September  22,  1776. 

47.  Memoir  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Tench  Tilghman,  p. 

138. 

48.  The  Connecticut  Gazette,  September  27,  1776. 

49.  These  stanzas  and  four  others  "  appeared  originally  in 

the  New  York  Evening  Post,  and  were  reprinted  in 
the  New  York  Weekly  Museum  of  October  5,  181 1 ." 
They  are  stated  to  be  "  lines  occasioned  by  a  ramble 
over  part  of  Harlem  Heights,  particularly  a  spot  re- 
markable for  an  action  said  to  have  taken  place  there 
between  a  party  of  Americans  and  a  detachment  of 
the  British  army."  See  The  Magazine  of  American 
History,  viii.,  part  ii.,  p.  629.  The  stanzas  must 
have  had  a  special  significance  in  view  of  the  ap- 
proaching renewal  of  conflict  with  Great  Britain. 


JBattle  of  Tbarlem  Ibeigbts 


583 


so.    JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  90. 

51.  REED,  Life  and  Correspondence,  etc.,  i.,  p.  237.  ant> 

52.  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  147.  -References 
53-     QUINCY,  The  Journals  of  Major  Samuel   Shaw,   p. 

20. 

54.  HUMPHREYS,  An  Essay,  etc.,  p.  141. 

55.  JOHNSTON,   The  Campaign  of  1776,  etc.,  part  ii.,  p. 

56. 

56.  JOHNSTON,  The  Battle,  etc.,  p.  151. 

57.  Ibid.,  p.   163.     Extracts  from  the  manuscript  literary 

diary  and  journal  of  occurrences  kept  by  Ezra  Stiles, 
D.D.,  now  in  the  library  of  Yale  University. 

58.  Ibid.,  p.  162. 

59.  Ibid.,  p.  206. 

60.  Ibid.,  p.  204. 

61.  Ibid.,  p.  209. 

62.  7&uJ.,  p.  225. 

63.  /fo'd.,  p.  164. 


BREUCKELEN 


385 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History    Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  XI. 


T 


BREUCKELEN. 

BY  HARRINGTON  PUTNAM. 

HE  original  settlements  which  came  to  be 
known  as  Breuckelen  were  but  a  small 
part  of  the  present  Borough  of  Brooklyn.  The 
forested  river-front  of  Long  Island,  rising  over 
against  New  Amsterdam,  was  still  covered 
with  rich  and  abundant  timber  long  after  a 
considerable  village  was  planted  on  the  lower 
part  of  Manhattan  Island.  The  Holland  and 
Belgium  folk,  reared  in  the  level  and  treeless 
lowlands,  were  by  no  means  eager  to  under- 
take the  severe  and  unaccustomed  labor  of 
forest-clearing.1  On  Long  Island  they  seem  to 
have  been  first  drawn  to  the  flats  having  a 
light  surface  soil,  which  had  received  some 
rude  cultivation  in  the  Indian  maize-fields,  and 
required  little  preparation  for  the  plow. 

What  was  called  Breuckelen  was  not  the 
locality  of  their  first  settlements.  The  first 
grant  of  land,  in  what  was  afterwards  the 
city  limits  of  Brooklyn,  appears  to  have  been 


387 


fflrst 
grants 


388 


36reucfcelen 


to  William  Adriaense  Bennett  and  Jacques 
Bentyn,  who  in  1636  purchased  from  the  In- 
dian sachem  Ka  a  considerable  tract  at  Go- 
wanus,  on  which  a  house  was  erected,  only 
to  be  destroyed  in  the  Indian  wars  of  1643.* 
Long  afterwards  the  fame  of  Gowanus  oysters 
and  wild  turkeys  was  carried  home  to  Hol- 
land. The  Labadist  travellers  who  came  there 
in  1679  said  of  these  oysters  that  "they  are 
large  and  full,  some  of  them  not  less  than  a 
foot  long." 3  The  shells  were  burned  for  lime. 
The  supply  of  oysters  remained  abundant 
enough  afterwards  for  great  quantities  to  be 
pickled  and  exported  to  Barbadoes. 

Where  the  East  River  made  an  abrupt  bend 
to  the  north,  leaving  a  wide  shallow  cove  on 
the  Long  Island  shore,  the  Dutch  soon  noticed 
good  land  sloping  gradually  down  into  the 
meadows  surrounding  the  water.  This  was 
called  the  Waal-boght,  and  is  the  present  site 
of  the  Navy  Yard.  Two  derivations  of  this 
name  are  advanced.  It  was  thought  to  have 
been  thus  styled  to  mean  the  Bay  of  the  Wal- 
loons, since  afterwards  many  French  families 
settled  there,  and  it  was  then  known  as  the 
Walloon  quarter.4  The  term  Waal,  however, 
means  a  basin  or  inner  harbor,  and  boght  a 
bend.  Hence  the  word  may  have  signified 
"  the  bend  of  the  inner  harbor,"  like  a  similar 
place  called  Waal-boght  in  the  city  of  Amster- 
dam.6 This  name  was  sometimes  abridged  as 


JBreucKelen  389 


Waal,  or  the  Wale.  On  the  faith  of  old  family 
traditions,  it  was  long  and  confidently  asserted 
that  on  the  shores  of  this  bay  was  born  the 
first  child  of  Dutch  settlers  on  Long  Island. 
This  claim  of  priority  for  the  Waal-boght  set- 
tlement is  not  established. 

Joris  Jansen  de  Rapalje,  a  Huguenot  who 
had  married  Catelyna  Trico  of  Paris,  and  had 
resided  at  Fort  Orange  and  later  had  an  inn  at 
New  Amsterdam,  eventually  came  to  live  in  a 
farm  on  the  Waal-boght.  The  purchase  was 
made  on  June  16,  1637."  It  was  their  eldest 
daughter  Sarah  who  was  erroneously  claimed 
to  have  been  born  on  Long  Island  before  1630. 
After  the  English  conquest,  Catelyna's  hus- 
band died,  and  she  lived  on  at  the  Waal-boght 
— the  mother  of  Brooklyn — affectionately  ab- 
sorbed in  her  eleven  children  and  their  de- 
scendants, who  in  1679  already  numbered  one 
hundred  and  forty-five.  A  visitor,  who  then 
saw  her,  described  her  as  devoted  with  her 
whole  soul  to  her  progeny.  "Nevertheless 
she  lived  alone  by  herself,  a  little  apart  from 
the  others,  having  her  little  garden  and  other 
conveniences  which  she  took  care  of  herself."  7 
Her  house  was  probably  near  the  present  site 
of  the  United  States  Marine  Hospital.  When 
Governor  Dongan  wished  to  establish,  as  a 
fact,  that  the  earliest  settlements  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Delaware  were  Dutch,  he  had  re- 
course to  the  evidence  of  this  venerable  dame. 


39° 


Breucfeelen 


In  1684,  she  was  summoned  before  his  Excel- 
lency, and  was  apparently  still  vivacious,  as 
she  gave  her  deposition.  Describing  her 
arrival  here  in  1623,  she  delighted  to  relate 
that:  "  Fouer  women  came  along  with  her  in 
the  same  shipp,  in  which  the  Governor  Arian 
Jarissen  came  also  over,  which  fouer  women 
were  married  at  sea,"'  and  afterwards  with 
their  husbands  were  sent  to  the  Delaware. 

In  1688,  she  made  another  affidavit  at  her 
house  "in  ye  Wale."  Recalling  the  bitter 
struggle  with  Indians  on  Long  Island  and 
Manhattan,  she  pleasantly  alluded  to  her  pre- 
vious life  with  them,  for  three  years  at  Fort 
Orange,  "all  of  which  time  ye  s?  Indians 
were  all  quiet  as  Lambs  &  came  &  traded 
with  all  ye  freedom  imaginable."  ' 

About  1642,  the  public  ferry  was  established 
between  Manhattan  and  Long  Island.  The 
landing-places  were  at  Peck's  Slip  in  Manhat- 
tan, and  at  the  present  foot  of  Fulton  Street 
on  Long  Island.  A  collection  of  houses  soon 
gathered  about  the  Long  Island  landing,  which 
little  settlement  became  known  as  "  The 
Ferry."  Southward  from  the  Ferry  and  along 
the  present  Heights  and  East  River  shore  ex- 
tended the  farms  of  Claes  Cornelissen  van 
Schouw,  Jan  Manje,  Andries  Hudde,  Jacob 
Wolphertsen,  Frederic  Lubbertsen  I0 ;  and  ex- 
Governor  Van  Twiller  had  himself  taken  a 
grant  of  Roode-Hoek,  so  called  from  its  rich 


Breucfeelen  391 


red  soil.11  It  is  difficult  now  to  retrace  this  line 
of  the  water-front,  so  greatly  has  the  filling-in 
of  Atlantic  Docks  changed  the  contour  of  the 
shore.  Red  Hook  appears  to  have  contained 
about  fifty  acres,  raised  up  somewhat  above 
the  surrounding  meadows.  This  small  prom- 
ontory projected  out  to  the  westward,  and  to 
the  north  of  it  the  shor.e-line  receded  inland  in 
marshes  towards  Gowanus.  On  some  of  these 
farm  grants  there  were  slight  improvements  ; 
others  were  long  allowed  to  remain  unculti- 
vated. 

The  Indian  wars  of  1643,  begun  on  Manhat- 
tan, also  extended  to  Long  Island.  The  white 
settlers  appear  to  have  been  the  aggressors. 
The  retaliation  of  the  red  tribes  devastated 
many  of  the  bouweries.  In  the  end,  the  In- 
dians were  driven  from  their  maize-fields, 
which  left  attractive  sites  for  habitation,  where 
the  new  settlers  founded  a  small  compact 
hamlet  instead  of  occupying  disconnected 
farms. 

Following  the  main  road  (now  Fulton  Street) 
from  the  Ferry  about  a  mile,  the  settlers  took 
up  the  lands  between  the  Waal-boght  and 
Gowanus  Kill,  in  the  vicinity  of  what  are  now 
Fulton,  Hoyt,  and  Smith  Streets.  The  best 
parts  of  this  new  territory  were  taken  up  by 
Jan  Evertsen  Bout,  Huyck  Aertsen,  Jacob  StofT- 
elsen,  Pieter  Cornelissen,  and  Joris  Dircksen." 
In  1645,  the  West  India  Company  had  recom- 


392 


iJBreucfeelen 


first 

Scbcpc us 


mended  that  the  colonists  should  establish 
themselves  "in  towns,  villages,  and  hamlets, 
as  the  English  are  in  the  habit  of  doing." 
These  settlers  gladly  availed  themselves  of  this 
advice,  and  notified  the  Colonial  Council  that 
they  desired  to  "found  a  town  at  their  own 
expense."  This  they  called  Breuckelen,  after 
the  ancient  village  of  that  name  on  the  Vecht, 
in  the  province  of  Utrecht. 

The  Governor  and  Council  responded 
promptly  and  confirmed  their  proceedings 
in  June,  1646.  No  municipal  or  local  liberties 
were,  however,  conferred  as  in  New  England. 
The  first  government  grant  to  this  town  was 
merely  a  ratification  of  the  election  of  Schepens, 
and  declaration  of  their  authority,  as  follows  : 


"We,  William  Kieft,  Director  General,  and  the  Council 
residing  in  New  Netherland,  on  behalf  of  the  High  and 
Mighty  Lords  States-  General  of  the  United  Netherlands, 
His  Highness  of  Orange,  and  the  Honorable  Directors  of  the 
General  Incorporated  West  India  Company,  To  all  those 
who  shall  see  these  presents  or  hear  them  read,  Greeting  : 

"  Whereas,  Jan  Evertsen  Bout  and  Huyck  Aertsen  from 
Rossum  were  on  the  2ist  May  last  unanimously  chosen  by 
those  interested  of  Breuckelen,  situate  on  Long  Island,  as 
Schepens,  to  decide  all  questions  which  may  arise,  as  they 
shall  deem  proper,  according  to  the  Exemptions  of  New 
Netherland  granted  to  particular  Colonies,  which  election  is 
subscribed  by  them,  with  express  stipulation  that  if  any  one 
refuse  to  submit  in  the  premises  aforesaid  to  the  above-men- 
tioned Jan  Evertsen  and  Huyck  Aertsen,  he  shall  forfeit  the- 
right  he  claims  to  land  in  the  allotment  of  Breuckelen,  and 
in  order  that  everything  may  be  done  with  more  authority, 


JSreucftelen 


393 


We,  the  Director  and  Council  aforesaid,  have  therefore 
authorized  and  appointed,  and  do  hereby  authorize  the  said 
Jan  Evertsen  and  Huyck  Aertsen  to  be  schepens  of  Breucke- 
len  ;  and  in  case  Jan  Evertsen  and  Huyck  Aertsen  do  here- 
after find  the  labor  too  onerous,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to 
select  two  more  from  among  the  inhabitants  of  Breuckelen 
to  adjoin  them  to  themselves.  We  charge  and  command 
every  inhabitant  of  Breuckelen  to  acknowledge  and  respect 
the  above-mentioned  Jan  Evertsen  and  Huyck  Aertsen  as 
their  schepens,  and  if  any  one  shall  be  found  to  exhibit  con- 
tumaciousness  towards  them,  he  shall  forfeit  his  share  as 
above  stated.  This  done  in  Council  in  Fort  Amsterdam  in 
New  Netherland."  13 

Later,  on  December  i,  the  authorities  gave 
Breuckelen  a  schout  or  constable,  and  Jan 
Teunissen  was  thus  appointed,  who  had  been 
already  acting  as  such  for  some  months  be- 
fore his  formal  commission. 

The  origin  of  these  settlers  has  not  been 
definitely  traced  to  the  village  of  Breuckelen, 
or  to  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  city  of 
Utrecht.  The  French  wars  there,  and  the 
Revolutionary  war  here,  have  despoiled  both 
Breuckelens  of  their  earliest  records.  The 
nomenclature  of  the  little  towns  on  Long  Is- 
land, however,  cannot  be  regarded  as  acci- 
dental. The  association  of  the  names  of  three 
hamlets  into  a  triangle,  generally  similar  to  the 
position  of  the  same  names  in  Holland,  is  a 
clear  proof  of  the  attachment  of  the  colonists 
to  their  natal  district,  between  Utrecht  and 
the  Zuider  Zee.  Similar  associations  appeared 


Earl? 
Settlers 


394 


Breucfcelen 


©16 

3Breuche= 

len 


at  the  same  time  in  the  new  villages  to  the 
east  of  Breuckelen  and  on  the  Sound.  From 
the  province  of  Zealand  the  wish  was  shown 
to  perpetuate  home  towns  in  the  names  of 
Vliessingen  (Flushing)  and  Middelburg  (New- 
town).  The  identity  of  village  names,  and 
similarity  of  the  relative  sites  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Breuckelen  to  those  in  the  fatherland, 
are  illustrated  by  two  maps  from  new  and  old 
Netherlands. 


,0N» 


Amersfoort,  Breuckelen,  and  Utrecht  have 
many  historic  associations.  To  the  politician 
and  reader  of  Motley,  they  are  forever  linked 
with  the  career  and  tragic  end  of  Barneveld. 
In  1619,  he  fell  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  state 
rights  and  local  self-government.  Such  an 
event,  comparatively  recent  in  1646,  and  still 
appealing  to  the  sense  of  individual  liberty, 


Breucfeelen 


395 


may  have  been  recalled  by  the  settlers  in 
America.  While  the  liberties  of  Utrecht  had  *«»<*«• 
been  the  cherished  objects  of  Barneveld's  so- 
licitude, he  proudly  claimed  his  birth  in  Amers- 
foort. 14  In  moments  of  arduous  public  labor  he 
looked  hopefully  forward  to  an  honorable  and 
calm  retirement  from  the  tumults  of  party  strife 
to  his  beautiful  estate  at  Guntersteijn  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Breuckelen.15  Breuckelen,  however, 
was  an  ancient  village  three  centuries  before 


the  settlement  in  New  Netherlands.  Located 
between  Utrecht  and  Amsterdam,  it  was  early 
noted  for  its  healthfulness,  which  soon  made 
it  a  desirable  residence  region.  The  surround- 
ing fields  and  foliage  are  strikingly  green  and 
luxuriant,  even  for  Holland.  Castles  grew  up 
about  it  along  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Vecht, 
which  all  the  successive  tides  of  war  have  not 
quite  destroyed. 


396 


Breucfeelen 


JSrcucfcc* 
len 


In  the  Dutch  records,  Breuckelen  had  various 
spellings,  as  Broklede,  Broicklede,  Brackola, 
Brocklandia,  and  Broeckland.  Hence  some 
say  that  the  name  came  from  its  brooks  and 
marshes — 'van  de  drassige  en  broekactige  veen- 
landen — meaning  a  brook  or  marsh  land.18  It 
is  mentioned  as  an  important  place  in  the  year 
1317.  There  were  two  parishes  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  Vecht.  These  are  Breuckelen- 
Nijenrode,  from  the  castle  of  Nijenrode,  and 
Breuckelen-St.  Pieters.  The  small  river  Vecht 
dividing  these  towns  may  be  considered  an 
outlet  of  the  Rhine,  which  parts  in  two  chan- 
nels at  Utrecht.  The  Vecht  turns  to  the  north 
and  emipties  into  the  Zuider  Zee.  It  is  navig- 
able for  small  vessels,  and  at  Breuckelen  is  a 
little  over  two  hundred  feet  wide. 

The  old  country-seats  along  the  Vecht,  once 
set  in  the  prim,  geometric  gardens  of  the 
last  century,  are  now  represented  by  modern 
villas,  half  hidden  by  trees,  which  to-day  form 
bits  of  unmatched  rural  scenery.  Eminent 
landscape  painters  of  the  modern  Dutch 
school  have  loved  to  make  studies  amid  these 
gentle  windings,  and  the  celebrity  of  the 
Vecht  in  art  bids  fair  to  surpass  the  forgotten 
fame  of  the  neighboring  castles.  Old  draw- 
bridges of  wood  cross  the  sluggish  river. 
Trees  come  close  to  the  tow-path,  bordered 
by  quaint  gardens.  Along  the  garden  edges, 
looking  out  upon  the  stream,  are  Koepels  or 


3Breucf?elen  397 


tea-houses,  and  over  all  this  abundant  foliage 
rises  a  church  spire. 

From  the  fifteenth  century  the  village  had  a 
coat  of  arms.  The  crown  imports  a  royal  grant, 
but  from  whom  and  whence  is  not  known. 


SEAL  OF  BREUCKELEN 


The  castles  of  Nijenrode  and  Oud-aa  are 
admittedly  ancient.  Indeed,  what  is  now 
Breuckelen-Nijenrode  was  once  a  fief  of  the 
lords  of  Nijenrode. 

The  settlers  on  Long  Island  generally  re- 
produced in  wood  with  thatched  roofs  the 
more  solid  stone  cottages  of  the  fatherland. 
They  were  mostly  of  one  story,  with  a  garret 
above.  Their  fireplaces  and  chimneys  were 
stone  to  the  height  of  about  six  feet,  with 
great  ovens  alongside.  Above  the  stone  they 
carried  up  the  chimneys  with  wood  plastered 
thick  with  mortar  inside.17  But  few  stone 
houses  were  built  before  the  English  con- 
quest. Travellers  visiting  such  homes  were 
cheered  with  good  fires,  which  they  noted 
were  of  clear  oak  and  hickory,  of  which  there 


JBreucfeelen 


planta» 
tione 


was  no  scruple  to  burn  with  lavish  hospitality. 
The  openings  of  the  huge  fireplaces  were 
often  large  enough  to  seat  the  family  on  both 
sides  of  the  fire,  without  jambs.  A  dwelling, 
sometimes  with  the  barn  also,  was  encircled 
with  strong  palisades  as  a  defense  against 
Indians.  An  institution  in  the  better  houses 
was  the  betste,  which  was  a  closed-in  bed- 
stead, built  into  the  house  like  a  cupboard, 
having  doors,  which  shut  up  the  low  bunk  in 
the  daytime.  Other  houses  had  a  simple 
slaap-banck,  or  sleeping-bench,  in  the  room, 
on  which  a  great  feather  bed  lay  in  state. 

The  plantation  and  farms  about  Breuckelen, 
besides  their  ordinary  farm  produce,  cultivated 
great  fields  of  tobacco.  Some  of  the  best  ex- 
ported from  the  American  colonies  grew  on 
the  plantations  about  the  Waal-boght.  Later, 
it  is  recorded  that  cotton  was  successfully 
raised  in  Breuckelen,  although  only  for  home 
use,  to  be  woven  with  native  wool." 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Governor  Stuyvesant  in 
New  Netherlands  in  1647,  he  was  obliged  to 
allow  an  election  to  be  had,  so  that  there 
should  be  popular  representation  in  the  Coun- 
cil. New  Amsterdam,  Breuckelen,  Amers- 
foort,  Midwout  (Flatbush),  and  other  places, 
elected  eighteen  of  the  "most  notable,  reason- 
able, honest,  and  respectable  "  among  them, 
from  whom  the  Governor  chose  nine,  as  an  Ad- 
visory Council.  In  this  body  Breuckelen  was 


JBreucfeelen 


399 


represented  by  its  founder  and  schepen,  Jan 
Evertsen  Bout.  In  the  subsequent  dissatis- 
faction with  the  authority  assumed  by  the 
Governor  in  1653,  and  the  public  conventions 
and  remonstrances,  Breuckelen  took  promin- 
ent part,  being  represented  by  Frederic  Lub- 
bertsen,  Paulen  van  der  Beeck,  and  William 
Beekman,  whose  maintenance  of  the  rights 
of  the  people  specially  irritated  the  jealous 
Governor.  Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and  Mid- 
wout  were  specially  ordered  to  prohibit  their 
residents  from  attending  any  meeting  at  New 
Amsterdam. 

After  peace  had  been  declared  between 
England  and  Holland  in  1654,  enlarged  local 
powers  were  granted,  and  two  new  schepens 
given  to  Breuckelen.  A  like  increase  was  con- 
ferred on  the  magistracies  of  Amersfoort  and 
Midwout,  and  a  superior  district  court  for  the 
three  villages  was  established.  This  conferred 
important  political  privileges.  It  gave  the 
people  rights  of  local  jurisdiction  and  that  right 
of  representation  for  which  they  had  con- 
tended in  1653." 

A  citizen  of  Breuckelen  could  not  refuse  to 
continue  to  hold  public  office.  In  1654,  Jan 
Evertsen  Bout  declined  to  act  as  schepen.  He 
incautiously  said  he  would  rather  go  back  to 
Holland  than  continue  to  perform  such  burden- 
some duties.  No  excuses  regarding  his  private 
business  were  accepted.  Though  the  schepen- 


Ipolitics  in 
JSrcucfcckn 


400 


Kreucfcelen 


tTbe  first 
Cbuccb 


elect  had  served  for  previous  terms,  and  filled 
other  colonial  offices,  he  was  not  now  allowed 
to  retire.  The  sheriff  was  formally  ordered  to 
notify  him  of  these  summary  commands  of 
Governor  Stuyvesant:  "If  you  will  not  accept 
to  serve  as  schepen  for  the  welfare  of  the  Vil- 
lage of  Breuckelen  with  others,  your  fellow- 
residents,  then  you  must  prepare  yourself  to 
sail  in  the  ship  King  Solomon,  for  Holland, 
agreeably  to  your  utterance."  20  This  appeal 
to  the  civic  conscience  of  one  who  had  been 
prominent  as  a  reformer,  coupled  with  the 
grim  threat  of  deportation,  was  irresistible.  No 
further  declinations  in  Breuckelen  offices  seem 
to  have  troubled  the  Council. 

The  first  church  in  the  present  territory 
was  started  at  Midwout  (Flatbush),  the 
building  of  which  was  begun  in  1654.  Before 
the  people  of  Breuckelen  would  promise  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  the  domine,  they 
solicited  "with  reverence"  that  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Polhemus  might  be  allowed  to  preach  in 
Breuckelen  and  Midwout  alternately.  The 
Council  cautiously  assented,  declaring  they 
had  no  objection  that  the  Reverend  Polhemus, 
"when  the  weather  permits  shall  preach  al- 
ternately at  both  places."21 

This  met  serious  objection  from  the  people 
of  Amersfoort  and  Gravesend,  who  pointed 
out  that  "  as  Breuckelen  is  quite  two  hours' 
walking  from  Amersfoort  and  Gravesend,  it 


Breucfeelen 


401 


was  impossible  for  them  to  attend  church  in 
the  morning,  and  return  home  at  noon.  So 
they  consider  it  a  hardship  to  choose,  to  hear 
the  Gospel  but  once  a  day,  or  to  be  compelled 
to  travel  four  hours  in  going  and  returning  all 
for  one  single  sermon — which  would  be  to 
some  very  troublesome,  and  to  some  utterly 
impossible."  "  The  Council  finally  settled  the 
difficulty  by  directing  that  the  morning  ser- 
mon be  at  Midwout,  and  that  instead  of  the 
customary  afternoon  service,  an  evening  dis- 
course be  preached  alternately  at  Midwout 
and  Breuckelen.  It  was  not  till  1660,  that 
Breuckelen  had  a  church  and  domine  of  its 
own,  the  Rev.  Henricus  Selyns,  who  was  of 
a  distinguished  Amsterdam  family.  He  la- 
bored successfully  for  four  years,  then  returned 
to  Holland  ;  came  out  again  eighteen  years 
later,  was  enthusiastically  welcomed,  and  set- 
tled in  New  York.  His  Latin  poem  eulogistic 
of  Cotton  Mather's  great  work  is  printed  in 
later  editions  of  the  Magnalta.™ 

After  the  settled  pastor,  came  the  school- 
master. He,  too,  was  a  learned  and  distin- 
guished man — Carel  de  Beauvois,  an  educated 
French  Protestant  from  Leyden,  who  was 
appointed  in  Breuckelen  in  1661,  and  was 
also  required  to  perform  the  offices  of  court 
messenger,  precentor  (voorsanger),  "ring  the 
bell,  and  do  whatever  else  is  required." 

In   1660,   Breuckelen   numbered  thirty-one 


Alternate 

Cburcb 
Services 


4O2 


BreucKelen 


ffiritisb 
Coiuiucst 


families  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  persons.  It  may  be  doubted  if  any  ham- 
let of  its  size  in  the  entire  American  colonies 
was  favored  with  better  spiritual  guides,  or 
more  learned  and  helpful  teachers — a  preemi- 
nence in  school  and  in  pulpit  that  Brooklyn- 
ites  may  well  endeavor  to  keep.  Thereafter 
the  growth  of  the  village  was  steady  and 
uneventful.  English  settlers  came  into  the 
neighboring  towns  of  Gravesend,  Jamaica,  and 
Flushing,  but  not  without  friction  with  their 
Dutch  neighbors. 

On  a  morning  of  August,  1664,  a  British 
fleet,  unannounced,  anchored  in  Gravesend 
Bay.  Staten  Island  was  first  seized.  A  body 
of  New  England  volunteers  came  through  the 
Sound,  landed  on  Long  Island,  and  encamped 
near  the  Ferry.  Governor  Stuyvesant  indig- 
nantly declined  to  yield.  A  part  of  the  fleet 
came  up  the  East  River  and  landed  more 
troops  below  Breuckelen.  Governor  Stuy- 
vesant's  historic  "I  would  rather  be  carried 
out  dead "  than  surrender,  was  at  last  over- 
borne by  the  entreaties  of  the  women  and 
children.  On  September  8,  1664,  Governor 
Nicolls  raised  the  flag  of  England  on  the  Fort, 
and  named  New  Amsterdam,  New  York. 
Long  Island  and  Staten  Island,  and  probably 
Westchester,  were  made  an  English  "shire." 
After  passing  through  various  phases  of  Dutch 
spelling,  Breuckelen  became  Brockland,  Brock- 


iJBreucftelen 


403 


lin,  Brookline,  and   at  last  Brooklyn,  in  the     jFromun. 
West  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  l*&  to 

-  .,.  ,        SSorougb. 

In  1683,  when  the  counties  of  Kings  and 
Queens  were  established,  the  settlement  of 
Newtown  was  detached  from  the  West  Rid- 
ing and  made  part  of  Queens  County,  leav- 
ing Kings  County  with  its  present  territory. 
In  1816,  Brooklyn  became  an  incorporated  vil- 
lage, which  grew  to  the  dignity  of  a  city  in 
1834.  Williamsburg  was  united  with  Brook- 
lyn in  1855,  followed  by  the  absorption  of  the 
towns  of  Kings  County  in  1886  and  1894.  In 
the  consolidation  with  New  York  in  1897  this 
enlarged  municipality,  embracing  all  the 
county  of  Kings,  has  now  become  the  Bor- 
ough of  Brooklyn. 


404 


36reucfeelen 


REFERENCES. 

1.  STILES,  Hist.  Brooklyn,  \.,  p.  23  ;   also  see  lease  of 
•References  lar>d  'n  Breuckelen,  August  i,  1647,  for  four  years, 

rent  free,  tenant  to  cut,  burn,  and  remove  the  timber, 
but  at  liberty  to  leave  the  stumps. — Doc.  Col.  Hist. 
ofN.  Y.,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  75. 

2.  STILES,  Hist.  Brooklyn,  i.,  p.  49. 

3.  Journal  of  Voyage  to  New  Netherland — Collections, 

L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  123. 

4.  O'CALLAGHAN,  Hist.  New  Netherland,  i.,  p.  101. 

5.  Literary  World  (N.  Y.),  May  20,  1848,  p.  309. 

6.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  4. 

7.  Journal  of  Voyage  to  New  Netherland,  p.  342. 

8.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  appendix,  p.  413. 

9.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  appendix,  p.  414. 

10.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  chap.  ii. 

11.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.  N.   Y.,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  48. 

12.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  xiv.,  pp.  60,  64,  65,  etc. 

13.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  pp.  45,  46. 

14.  MOTLEY,  John  of  Barneveld,  ii.,  p.  229  (ed.  London, 

1875). 

15.  Ibid.,  ii.,  p.  185. 

1 6.  Kabinet  van  Nederlandsche  en  Kleefsche  Oudheden, 

by  MATTHEUS  B.  VAN  NIDEK,  ISAAC  LE  LONG,  J.  H. 
REISIG,  and  others,  p.  262,  Amsterdam,  1793. 

17.  STILES,  Hist.  Brooklyn,  i.,  p.  222. 

1 8.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  p.  232. 

19.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  p.  no. 

20.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  255. 

21.  STILES,  Hist.,\.,  p.  129. 

22.  STILES,  Hist.,  i.,  p.  130. 

23.  Magnolia,  vol.  i.,  pp.  20,  21  (Hartford,  1820).      The 

poem  ends  as  follows  : 
"Tu  dilecte  Deo,  cujus  Bostonia  gaudet 
Nostra  Ministerio,  seu  cui  tot  scribere  libros, 


JSreuchelen 


405 


Non  opus,  aut  labor  est  qui  Magnalia  Christ! 
Americana  refers  scriptura  plurima.     Nonne 
Dignus  es  agnoscare  inter  Magnalia  Christi  ? 
Vive  Liber  totique  Orbi  Miracula  Monstres 
Quae  sunt  extra  Orbem.     Cottone,  in  saecula  vive; 
Et  dum  Mundus  erit  vivat  tua  Fama  per  Orbem." 


•(References 


THE  "NEUTRAL  GROUND" 


407 


Half  Moon  Series 

Published  in  the  Interest  of  the  New  York 
City  History   Club. 


VOLUME  II.     NUMBER  XII. 


THE  "NEUTRAL  GROUND." 

BY  CHARLES  PRYER. 

DURING  the  War  of  the  Revolution  the 
County  of  Westchester,  and  particu- 
larly the  lower  towns  (now  forming  the 
Borough  of  Bronx  or  Bronck's1),  was  the  prey 
of  the  foraging  parties  of  both  armies,  as  it 
lay  directly  between  them  and  was  perma- 
nently occupied  by  neither.  Being  common 
property  to  both  parties,  it  was,  therefore, 
called  the  "Neutral  Ground."  The  views  of 
the  inhabitants  themselves  at  the  outset  of  the 
struggle  were  much  divided,  and  if  popular 
sentiment  was  not  absolutely  loyal  to  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain,  it  was  much  more 
conservative  than  in  New  England  or  in  the 
southern  colonies. 

Many  of  the  leading  families  were  staunch 
loyalists  and  afterwards  prominent  leaders  of 
the  Royalist  Refugees.  Amongst  these  were 
the  Van  Courtlandts,  DeLanceys,  Philipses,  and 


409 


location 

of  tbe 

"  Ifteutral 

(Brouno  " 


"IReutral  (Brounfc" 


Views  of 

its  1Fn= 
habitants 


Wilkinses,  and  these  were  the  names  which 
the  people  of  that  period  were  accustomed  to 
follow.  On  the  other  side,  however,  were  the 
Morrises,  Livingstons,  and  Tomkynses,  fam- 
ilies who  belonged  in  the  same  region,  so  that 
parties  may  be  said  to  have  been  pretty  evenly 
divided.  The  first  meetings  called  to  consider 
the  question  of  electing  delegates  to  Congress 
were  broken  up  by  the  violent  efforts  of  Phil- 
ipse,  Wilkins,  and  other  Royalists,  and  when 
the  matter  was  finally  decided  in  the  affirm- 
ative, the  delegates  chosen  were  instructed 
to  do  nothing  disloyal  to  "the  government 
of  his  Majesty  the  King,"  and  it  is  an  historic 
fact  that  New  York  was  the  last  colony  to 
authorize  its  delegates  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress to  sign  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
This  conservatism,  however,  was  not  al- 
together induced  by  loyalty  to  the  British 
government,  but  by  a  selfish  interest.  It 
was  perfectly  self-evident  to  such  men  as 
"Squire"  Van  Cortlandt,  Oliver  de  Lancey, 
and  others,  that  one  of  the  main  objects  of 
the  home  government,  in  case  of  war,  would 
be  to  separate  the  more  southern  from  the 
New  England  colonies,  and  New  York  was 
the  keystone  of  this  position.  With  her  deep 
harbor,  and  the  broad  Hudson  stretching  far 
to  the  northward,  it  would  be  easy  for  Eng- 
land to  bring  in  her  invincible  fleet,  and  with 
it  materially  aid  any  army  that  might  invade 


"IReutral  OrounD" 


411 


the  State  from  loyal  Canada  ;  so  what  they 
feared,  and  what  actually  came  to  pass,  was 
that  the  locality  would  be  made  the  theatre 
of  war  and  devastation. 

But  let  us  follow  events  more  in  detail. 
Boston  had  been  evacuated,  and  the  brothers 
Howe  had  sailed  from  Halifax  ;  already  ru- 
mors were  current  that  the  General  had  been 
largely  re-enforced,  and  that  My  Lord  the  Ad- 
miral had  taken  his  entire  command  on  board 
his  magnificent  and  irresistible  fleet,  and  was 
on  his  way  to  capture  New  York.  Washing- 
ton was  even  now  in  the  city  to  defend  it  with 
the  Continental  army.  On  June  28,  1776,  the 
British  fleet  appeared,  and  General  Howe's 
troops  were  landed  upon  Staten  Island  without 
opposition.  Washington  had  entirely  too 
much  ground  to  cover  with  his  meagre  force 
of  eighteen  thousand  men,  a  large  proportion 
being  raw  troops,  and  he  found  it  impossible 
to  defend  that  comparatively  distant  point. 

It  will  be  necessary  here,  to  understand  the 
campaign  in  the  Neutral  Ground,  to  give  a 
short  sketch  of  the  capture  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  Heights.  It  is  now  conceded  that 
Washington  made  a  mistake  in  attempting  to 
defend  New  York  with  the  very  limited  re- 
sources then  at  his  command,  but  he  was 
urged  to  do  so  both  by  the  inhabitants  and 
by  Congress,  and  his  own  good  judgment 
was  entirely  outweighed.  Howe  lost  much 


Uunfuui 
of  tbe 
JSrttieb 
"Creeps 
upon 
Staten 
flslant 


412 


Heutral  (5roun&" 


Capture  of 
JSrooklcn 

•fcctgbts 


time  in  vain  attempts  to  negotiate  a  peace 
with  the  exasperated  colonies.  It  may  be 
here  said  to  his  credit,  that  he  always  carried 
the  olive-branch  with  the  sword,  and  fought 
with  the  greatest  reluctance,  so  it  was  not 
until  August  22,  that  he  landed  at  Graves  End, 
with  twenty  thousand  men,  his  army  in  the  in- 
terim having  been  augmented  by  the  arrival 
of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  from  the  South.  To 
oppose  this  force  the  Americans  had  nine 
thousand  men  under  General  Putnam.  Most 
of  these  were  behind  earthworks  on  Brooklyn 
Heights,  and  on  a  wooded  ridge  commanding 
some  of  the  roads  from  Graves  End. 

Howe  spent  several  days  in  reconnoitring, 
and  it  was  not  until  August  27,  that  any 
serious  advance  was  made  ;  then  he  sent  his 
brother,  the  Admiral,  to  threaten  the  city  with 
the  fleet  and  to  keep  Washington  occupied, 
while  he  attacked  the  forces  under  Putnam. 
Four  roads  led  from  his  Graves  End  camp  to- 
wards the  Continental  lines,  one  of  which  ran 
along  the  shore,  which  was  defended  by  Gen- 
eral Lord  Sterling  with  his  division.  Against 
this  renegade  Scotch  peer,  Howe  sent  General 
Grant  with  his  Highlanders.  Two  of  the  re- 
maining three  roads  joined  near  the  village  of 
Flatbush,  and  crossed  the  ridge  which  was  de- 
fended by  General  Sullivan  ;  and  here  advanced 
General  Heister  with  his  Hessians.  The  fourth 
was  the  Jamaica  Road,  along  which  the  main 


TIbe  "IReutral  Ground" 


413 


body  of  the  army  marched  with  Howe  him- 
self, Clinton,  Percy,  and  Cornwallis  at  their 
head.  Their  object  was  to  march  by  the 
ridge  where  Sullivan  was  stationed,  and  then 
to  wheel  near  the  village  of  Bedford  in  order 
to  attack  him  on  the  flank  and  rear.  In  this 
movement  Howe  undoubtedly  out-generaled 
Putnam  ;  Sullivan  was  completely  routed, 
with  the  loss  (including  those  of  Sterling's 
division)  of  about  four  hundred  killed  and 
wounded,  and  one  thousand  taken  prisoners  ; 
among  the  latter  was  the  General  himself. 

The  troops  of  Sterling  did  much  better 
fighting,  and  it  was  not  until  Sullivan  was 
defeated,  and  the  main  army  of  Howe  joined 
Grant,  that  the  Maryland  brigades  gave  ground. 
Even  then  they  succeeded  in  gaining  Put- 
nam's main  line  without  disorder.  Howe's 
troops  were  now  tired,  and  he  did  not  ad- 
vance at  once  against  the  works  on  Brooklyn 
Heights.  Washington  at  first  re-enforced  Put- 
nam, supposing  an  immediate  assault  would 
be  made,  but  finding  Howe  was  in  no  hurry 
to  fight,  and  seemed  rather  inclined  to  lay 
seige  to  the  position,  he  took  advantage  of  a 
very  dense  fog  on  the  night  of  August  29, 
evacuated  the  forts,  and  took  his  entire  army 
over  to  the  New  York  shore.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  masterly  retreats  in  the  face  of  a 
superior  force  on  record,  and  if  Howe  had 
shown  his  ability  in  his  flanking  march  on 


ton 

tRetreats 
from 


414 


Ube  "Heutral  <3rount>" 


perilous 
position 

of 

Putnam's 
Command 


the  night  of  the  twenty-seventh,  Washington 
more  than  equalled  him  by  his  brilliant  retreat 
on  the  night  of  the  twenty-ninth,  or  two  days 
later.  Washington,  with  the  main  body  of 
the  army,  retired  to  Harlem  Heights,  where  he 
established  himself  in  a  very  strong  position, 
leaving  Putnam  with  four  thousand  men  in 
the  city  proper. 

In  1776,  the  city  of  New  York  did  not  ex- 
tend beyond  Chatham  Street,  and  the  Island 
was  much  narrower  at  that  period,  as  several 
blocks  have  been  filled  in  on  both  rivers  since 
those  days;  thus  the  command  in  the  town 
did  not  have  so  much  territory  to  cover  as 
might  appear  at  first  sight,  but  it  was  perfectly 
self-evident  that,  from  the  moment  that  Long 
Island  was  lost,  the  city  could  not  be  held,  and 
that  Putnam's  stay  would  be  short  ;  his  posi- 
tion was,  indeed,  extremely  perilous,  for  could 
Howe  get  some  troops  up  either  river  in  his 
ships,  to  a  point  between  the  city  and  the 
Continental  army,  he  could  land  them,  cut  off 
the  four  thousand  under  Putnam,  and  capture 
his  entire  command. 

Howe,  seeing  all  this,  sent  two  ships  up  the 
Hudson  to  Bloomingdale,  disembarked  his 
army  on  the  other  side  of  the  Island  at  Kip's 
Bay  (near  the  foot  of  the  present  East  34th 
Street),  and  attempted  to  cut  off  Putnam's 
division  ;  but  the  genial  gentleman  was  too 
strong  for  the  soldier.  Mrs.  Robert  Murray, 


TTbe  "  IReutral  (Brounfc  " 


415 


understanding  the  condition  of  things  thor- 
oughly, and  seeing  Howe  and  his  staff  pass- 
ing, invited  the  General  and  officers  to  lunch 
with  her.  A  halt  was  immediately  called,  and 
the  lunchparty  commenced  which  saved  the 
American  cause  one  general  officer  and  four 
thousand  men;  for  while  this  entertainment 
was  in  progress  Putnam  marched  his  entire 
division  northward  and  joined  Washington. 

Howe  now  had  New  York,  but  it  was  of 
very  little  use  to  him  so  long  as  Washington's 
army  occupied  a  strong  position  extending 
from  the  mouth  of  "Harlem  Creek"  right 
across  the  Island  to  the  Hudson.  The  British 
commander,  however,  had  two  alternatives 
besides  a  direct  assault  ;  he  could  pass  be- 
tween Forts  Lee  and  Washington  with  his 
fleet,  ascend  the  Hudson,  and  make  the  po- 
sition of  the  Americans  untenable  by  landing 
in  their  rear.  But  to  do  this  he  would  have  to 
stand  the  fire  from  the  forts,  which  might  do 
considerable  damage  to  his  men-of-war  and 
transports.  The  East  River,  or  Sound,  was, 
however,  entirely  free  from  forts,  and  afforded 
him  almost  as  good  an  opportunity  of  getting 
into  the  rear  of  the  Americans  as  the  Hudson; 
this  alternative  was  therefore  selected,  and  on 
October  12,  1776,  Howe  embarked  the  greater 
part  of  his  army  and  sailed  up  the  Sound  or 
East  River  as  far  as  Throg's Neck8  (now  a  por- 
tion of  Greater  New  York),  where  he  landed, 


General 

tbowc  in 

possession 

of  1Rew 


416 


Ube  "Heutral  (Brounfc" 


Ubc  figbt 
atpeU 
bam'6 
•Recb 


leaving  Lord  Percy  to  keep  Washington  occu- 
pied at  Harlem.  He  hoped  by  this  movement 
to  get  directly  in  the  rear  of  the  Continental 
army,  and  so  force  it  either  to  surrender,  or 
entirely  to  rout  and  scatter  it;  but  the  rebels 
had  not  been  sleeping. 

General  Heath,  with  a  force  of  several 
thousand  men,  had  been  sent  to  defend  the 
causeway  and  tear  down  the  bridges  across 
Westchester  Creek,  so  it  would  be  impossible 
for  Howe  to  gain  the  rear  of  the  Americans 
without  a  fight.  Howe  did  not  care  to  ad- 
vance through  a  marsh  in  the  face  of  so  strong 
a  force,  and  delayed  on  the  Neck  six  days,  in 
which  little  but  ineffective  skirmishing  was 
accomplished.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he 
took  to  his  boats  again,  proceeded  northeast 
about  three  miles,  landed  his  forces  on  Pell's 
Neck  "or  Pelham  Neck,  (now  Pelham  Park), 
and  advanced  towards  the  Albany  and  Boston 
roads.  Heath  threw  a  couple  of  brigades  in 
his  way,  and  attempted  to  check  his  progress. 
For  a  time  quite  a  spirited  fight  was  the  re- 
sult; but  the  Americans  were  out-numbered 
and  compelled  to  retire  with  a  loss  of  about  ten 
killed  and  forty  wounded.  Howe  had  at  last 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  place  he  wanted,  but 
it  was  too  late  for  his  purpose  of  capturing 
the  Continental  army;  for  the  Americans  had 
evacuated  Manhattan  Island,  except  Fort 
Washington,  and  were  now  comparatively 


ZTbe  "IReutral  (Brounfc" 


417 


safe  on  Chatterton  Heights,  near  the  village  of 
White  Plains.  For  a  few  days  Howe's  army 
covered  a  wide  field,  and  we  hear  of  some  of 
his  troopers  almost  as  far  north  as  the  Con- 
necticut line.  This,  however,  was  probably 
done  merely  in  search  of  forage,  for  he  soon 
concentrated  them  on  the  Albany  Road  near 
the  scene  of  the  recent  engagement. 

It  was  a  beautiful  autumnal  morning,  Oct- 
ober 23,  1776,  that  the  greatest  military 
pageant  took  place  that  the  fair  county  of 
Westchester  ever  saw,  at  all  events  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  Howe,  preparatory  to 
following  Washington,  drew  up  his  entire 
army  for  review,  along  the  road  and  on  the 
meadows  (very  near  the  present  boundary- 
line  between  the  city,  and  the  now  much  cur- 
tailed County  of  Westchester),  then  known  as 
Pelham  and  Eastchester  flats.  Some  ten  thou- 
sand men  took  part  in  the  ceremonies,  and 
the  effect  must,  indeed,  have  been  inspiring 
and  beautiful.  The  bright  scarlet  of  the  British 
regulars,  contrasted  well  with  the  more  sombre 
green  of  Knyphausen's  Hessians,  and  with  the 
background  of  the  yellow  sedge  grass  covered 
with  sparkling  frost.  This  was  a  fine  picture 
by  which,  on  that  chill  October  morning,  to 
impress  the  inhabitants  with  the  invincible 
power  of  England's  chivalry,  and  the  politic 
commander  had  thought  it  wise  to  invite  a 
few  of  the  more  distinguished  proprietors  of 


Ube 

"(Breat 

tReview  " 

of 

General 
•fcowe's 


Heutral  (Brounfc" 


Ube 

"(Breat 

•Review  " 

of 

General 
•foowc's 
Hum: 


loyal  tendencies  to  witness  the  affair.  There 
was  the  fiery  Philipse,  and  the  philanthropic 
colonist  who  is  said  to  have  sprung  from  the 
grand  old  House  of  "Kourlandt"  (Cortlandt), 
to  witness  the  glorious  return  of  their  sover- 
eign's banner,  and,  while  the  bands  played  and 
the  sun  glistened  upon  the  bright  arms  of  the 
troops,  this  little  band  of  officers  and  gentle- 
men rode  along  the  lines  and  inspected  the 
army.  As  the  sun  rose  higher  in  the  heavens 
the  day  became  warm  and  genial  with  that 
Indian  summer  balminess,  so  common  to  our 
American  autumn.  By  noon  the  party  before 
alluded  to,  were  glad  to  halt  for  refreshments 
under  the  golden  shade  of  what,  even  then, 
must  have  been  a  group  of  grand  old  chestnuts. 
That  lunch  just  before  the  march  to  White 
Plains  has  become  historic,  and  the  old  resi- 
dent can  still  point  out  the  trees  with  pride  to 
any  visitor  who  may  be  passing  that  way. 
Let  us  hope,  however,  that  the  meal  of  these 
fine  gentlemen  was  not  spoiled  by  the  pres- 
ence of  that  rough  old  German,  the  Count 
von  Knyphausen,  who,  though  a  dashing 
soldier  and  a  brave  man,  was  no  courtier, 
and  anything  but  a  pleasant  dining  companion. 
All  that  is  left  of  this  gallant  assembly,  are  the 
old  trees  that  have  defied  all  change  in  this 
change-loving  land,  and  as  recently  as  the 
beginning  of  the  winter  (1897-98)  still 
stood,  the  only  landmarks  of  those  long- 


ZTbe  "IReutral 


departed  days.  But,  old  trees,  you  are  not  to 
stand  here  always.  Though  you  may  have  seen  " <Bcca*, 
the  Indians  of  the  seventeenth  century;  Wash-  of 
ington,  Howe,  and  Clinton,  of  the  eighteenth ; 
and  all  the  celebrities  of  the  nineteenth;  yet 
those  trunks  of  yours,  sixteen  feet  in  circum- 
ference though  they  be,  are  but  hollow  shells; 
the  gales  of  two  hundred  winters  have  lopped 
many  a  fair  limb,  and  ere  the  twentieth  century 
shall  grow  old  the  squirrel  will  no  longer 
play  on  your  boughs,  nor  the  frosts  of  autumn 
turn  your  leaves  to  gold  ! 

In  the  fall  of  1876,  just  a  hundred  years  after 
the  day  of  the  "Great  Review,"  two  gentle- 
men were  lunching  under  the  same  old  trees. 
"The  days  of  old"  were  discussed,  and  the 
historic  spot  examined  in  all  its  bearings;  but 
after  a  time  the  conversation  flagged,  and  they 
sat  gazing  up  into  the  shady  trees,  whose 
leaves  were  fast  turning  into  those  brilliant 
hues  with  which  the  American  forest-trees  bid 
good-bye  to  summer,  when  the  elder  man 
turned  to  his  companion  and  said:  "Here  is 
the  pistol  which  my  grandfather  carried  when 
with  General  Howe  on  the  day  of  the  '  Grand 
Review,'  when  they  lunched  under  these 
trees  just  before  the  Battle  of  White  Plains; 
now,  as  I  want  you  to  remember  this  occasion, 
I  present  you  with  the  derringer  as  a  memento 
of  the  anniversary  of  that  parade."  As  they 
gazed  upon  this  weapon  of  a  former  age,  the 


42O 


Ube  "  Weutral  <3rounfc  " 


•Cbc 

Skinners 

ant> 
Cowboys 


nineteenth  century  seemed  to  fade  into  the 
Indian  summer  mist,  and  they  could  only  see 
the  scarlet  of  the  British  regulars  and  the  green 
of  their  Hessian  allies;  the  figures  of  the  chi- 
valric  Cornwallis;  the  gallant  but  peace-loving 
Howe,  and  the  rough  old  soldier,  Knyphausen. 

But  to  return  to  our  narrative.  The  day  af- 
ter the  "  Grand  Review  "  Howe  went  in  pur- 
suit of  the  Continental  army  and  on  October 
28,  stormed  Chatterton  Heights  near  White 
Plains,  and  forced  Washington  to  retire  to 
North  Castle.  He  himself,  however,  did  not 
go  farther,  but  soon  withdrew  to  the  city 
proper,  to  rest  and  refresh  his  troops,  evi- 
dently thinking  he  had  done  enough  for  one 
campaign. 

We  have  now  finished  with  the  great  armies 
of  either  party  in  the  Neutral  Ground,  and 
must  hereafter  content  ourselves  with  resting 
in  their  shadow,  and  try  to  keep  the  war 
spirit  alive  by  cavalry  raids,  the  robberies  of 
the  Skinners  and  Cowboys,  and  such  expedi- 
tions as  were  sent  out  for  foraging  purposes. 
DeLancey's  and  Tarleton's  cavalry  scoured  this 
part  of  the  country  in  all  directions,  and  Heath 
and  others  were  scarcely  less  active.  The 
Cowboys  (ostensibly  Royalists),  and  the  Skin- 
ners on  the  American  side,  vied  with  each 
other  in  the  atrocity  of  their  acts  ;  they  re- 
spected neither  friend  nor  foe,  only  caring 
whether  their  victims  had  anything  of  value. 


Ube  "IReutral  <3roun&" 


421 


After  Howe  had  established  himself  securely 
in  the  city,  and  Washington  was  at  distant 
North  Castle,  the  British  had  to  take  Fort 
Washington,  on  the  northern  part  of  New 
York  or  Manhattan  Island,  to  make  their  con- 
quest complete.  It  would  have  been  far  wiser 
for  the  Continentals  to  have  evacuated  the 
stronghold,  as  it  was  evidently  impossible  to 
hold  it  in  the  face  of  such  an  army  as  was 
now  in  the  city  ;  but  General  Greene,  instead 
of  doing  this,  reinforced  the  post  against  the 
advice  of  Washington.  The  result  was  as 
might  have  been  foreseen,  that  the  fort  had  to 
be,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  surrendered, 
and  the  Americans  lost  just  so  many  more  of 
their  best  troops. 

Now,  at  last,  the  island  was  free  from  armed 
rebels,  and  there  was  no  regular  force  of  the 
enemy  for  many  miles  north  of  it ;  but  a  num- 
ber of  foraging  bands  or  cavalry  of  both  par- 
ties, were  wandering  through  the  country  in 
all  directions,  and  when  these  parties  met 
there  was  apt  to  be  more  or  less  trouble. 

The  first,  and  probably  most  tragic  of  these 
affairs  occurred  very  soon  after  the  events  just 
related,  or  in  the  early  winter  of  1776.  A 
party  of  Americans  belonging  to  the  army  of 
General  Charles  Lee,  which  was  still  posted  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  county,  came  south 
as  far  as  Ward's  house  (which  is  within  the 
district  we  have  attempted  to  describe),  bent 


Cbc 

Sutrcii&cf 
of  Jfort 
Tfflasba 

UUjtCH 


422 


"IReutral  Ground" 


Ubc 

Shooting 
of  Captain 
Campbell 


upon  forage.  In  this  time-honored  mansion 
they  found  much  that  was  to  their  taste,  and 
after  a  few  bottles  of  their  absent  host's  very 
good  wine  had  circulated  among  them,  the 
discipline  of  Captain  Delavan  relaxed,  and 
the  guards  were  allowed  to  join  in  the  general 
merry-making.  As  night  came  on  they  be- 
came as  reckless  of  their  safety  as  though 
the  country  was  in  a  state  of  profound  peace, 
and  they  were  enjoying  themselves  in  the 
village  inn. 

But  the  American  foragers  were  not  left  long 
to  enjoy  their  carousal.  As  the  night  advanced 
one  or  two  of  the  more  sober  ones  heard  the 
distant  sound  of  horses'  hoofs,  and  at  once 
tried  to  arouse  their  stupefied  and  sleepy  com- 
panions, but  without  much  success,  while  the 
tramp  of  many  hoofs  grew  nearer  and  nearer, 
as  the  troopers  galloped  over  the  frozen  ground. 
The  jingling  of  the  sabres  and  the  word  of 
command  proved  that  they  were  soldiers,  and 
before  even  those  who  were  able  had  time  to 
attempt  either  to  defend  themselves  or  to 
escape,  the  house  was  surrounded,  and  Cap- 
tain Campbell,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  Royal 
Cavalry,  (for  such  the  horsemen  proved  to  be), 
demanded  the  immediate  surrender  of  the 
Americans.  Delavan,  seeing  that  resistance 
was  hopeless  in  the  existing  condition  of  his 
men,  immediately  complied,  and  stepped  for- 
ward to  hand  his  sword  to  Campbell,  when  a 


TIbe  "IReutral  GrounD" 


423 


shot  was  fired4  by  one  of  the  half-inebriated 
soldiers,  and  Campbell  fell  dead  at  the  feet  of 
the  man  whom  only  a  second  before  he  had 
considered  his  prisoner. 

This  irresponsible  act  was  nothing  less,  of 
course,  than  murder,  as  the  terms  of  surrender 
had  actually  been  agreed  to,  and  the  captured 
party  would  in  all  probability  have  been  treated 
by  Campbell  as  simple  prisoners  of  war.  This 
breach  of  faith,  however,  changed  the  entire 
aspect  of  things.  The  vilest  passions  of  the 
British  soldiers  were  aroused,  and  the  only 
man  with  sufficient  authority  to  control  them 
was  dead  before  their  eyes.  The  fact  that  his 
life-blood  was  treacherously  shed,  served  to 
justify  almost  any  crime  that  might  be  com- 
mitted. It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
they  would  take  into  consideration  the  intoxi- 
cated condition  of  the  man,  nor  did  they,  but 
sprang  forward,  sabre  in  hand,  and  cut  down 
the  innocent  and  unfortunate  Delavan  first ; 
then  they  rushed  into  the  house  and  took  the 
lives  of  all  whom  they  met,  or,  as  the  old  farm- 
ers used  to  say,  "stuck  them  like  so  many 
pigs."  Some  of  the  victims  jumped  from  the 
windows,  and  were  killed  by  those  who  re- 
mained outside  to  watch  for  them  ;  some  tried 
to  secrete  themselves  among  barrels  and  rub- 
bish in  the  cellar,  but  were  found  and  hacked 
to  pieces.  Not  more  than  a  half-dozen  in  all 
escaped  to  tell  the  story  of  this  fearful  night  of 


Ubc 

Sboottiui 
of  Captain 
Campbell 


424 


Ube  "  IReutral  Ground  " 


TTbe 

Sfeinncr'0 
upon 
an  Ols 


stead 


the  first  year  of  the  Republic.  About  twenty- 
five  are  known  to  have  perished,  and  it  would 
seem  that  Campbell  was  pretty  well  avenged. 

There  are  other  incidents  of  the  time  handed 
down  which  are  not  so  tragic  ;  we  must 
now  turn  to  an  event  less  bloody  but  some- 
what more  amusing.  An  old  homestead,  situ- 
ated not  far  from  the  scene  just  narrated,  had 
not  been  deserted  as  were  most  of  the  houses 
in  the  vicinity.  During  the  long,  cold  winter 
the  occupants  lived  in  constant  fear  of  those 
marauders  who  subsisted  by  plundering  the 
inhabitants,  under  cover  of  the  pretended  es- 
pousal of  one  cause  or  the  other,  the  Skinners 
being  the  Continental  robbers,  while  the  Cow- 
boys claimed  to  be  loyal  to  the  King.  They 
were  both  absolutely  indifferent  to  the  politics 
of  the  unfortunates  whom  they  robbed. 

It  was  in  January,  1777  ;  the  night  had  set 
in  cold  and  forbidding ;  a  keen  northwest  wind 
had  been  blowing  all  day,  and  as  the  sun  sank 
into  heavy  banks  of  clouds,  the  thermometer6 
almost  touched  the  zero  point.  The  snow 
creaked  under  the  feet  of  the  farmer  as  he 
returned  to  the  house  after  attending  to  such 
cattle  as  the  marauding  parties  had  left  him. 
Throwing  his  hat  on  a  chair  he  remarked: 

"I  hope  those  Skinners  will  leave  us  alone 
to-night ! " 

The  darkness  increased,  and  as  the  night 
wore  on,  all  that  could  be  heard  was  the  roar 


ZTbe  "  Heutral  (Brounfc " 


425 


of  the  wind,  as  it  drove  the  still  drifting  snow 
against  the  window-panes  ;  but  a  crackling 
fire  burned  in  the  ample  fireplace,  and  all  within 
was  genial  and  comfortable,  when — hark  ! 
between  the  gusts  of  the  winter  wind  could 
be  heard  the  distant  tramp  of  many  feet.  The 
farmer  jumps  up  and  rushes  to  the  door  to 
listen, — no  there  is  no  mistake,  nearer  and 
nearer  come  those  ominous  sounds,  and  soon 
a  party  of  some  fifteen  men  or  more,  can  be 
seen  advancing  like  spectres  of  the  night.  In 
a  few  moments  they  reach  the  house  and 
enter  without  invitation.  With  small  cere- 
mony, they  make  their  business  known,  by 
demanding  all  the  money  and  valuables  to  be 
handed  over  to  them  at  once  on  pain  of  death. 
All  are  armed  with  the  military  muskets  of 
the  period,  and  the  majority  carry  pistols  and 
knives  in  addition,  but,  they  have  no  other 
insignia  of  regular  soldiers  about  them  ex- 
cept cartridge  boxes,  belts,  etc.  They  are, 
for  the  most  part,  dressed  in  the  ordinary 
clothing  of  the  common  people  of  the  country, 
with  here  and  there  a  stolen  military  garment, 
made  conspicuous  by  its  incongruity.  To 
their  demand  the  owner  of  the  house  replies 
that  he  has  no  money,  and  is  therefore  unable 
to  give  it  to  them.  The  intruders  reiterate 
their  threats  of  instant  death  unless  they  get 
what  they  desire;  but  finding  it  useless  to 
parley  longer  with  the  farmer,  they  leave  a 


Ube 

•Shfnners 
•Rato  upon 


stcaS 


426 


Ube  "ftenttai  Ground" 


Shinncvs 

1Ralo  upon 

an  CU 

Domes 

ateao 


couple  of  their  number  to  guard  him  and 
his  family,  and  proceed  to  search  the  house 
for  themselves.  After  an  absence  of  about 
half  an  hour,  during  which  time  all  the 
upper  rooms  are  thoroughly  ransacked,  the 
party  return  with  very  little  booty  and  again 
threaten  the  unfortunate  proprietor,  who  can 
only  tell  them  just  what  he  did  before,  that 
he  has  nothing  to  satisfy  them ;  which  answer 
is  in  all  probability  perfectly  true,  as  previous 
visitors  of  the  same  kind  had  helped  them- 
selves to  everything  worth  carrying  away  on 
the  premises. 

The  Skinners,  therefore — this  particular 
band  happened  to  be  of  that  persuasion- 
thought,  or  at  all  events  acted,  as  though  all 
that  was  left  for  them  to  do  was  to  carry  out 
their  threat  of  hanging  the  farmer.  After 
warming  themselves  well  before  the  great  log 
fire,  they  obtained  a  rope  and  compelled  him 
to  leave  his  comfortable  hearth  and  walk  be- 
fore them  into  the  cold  winter  night,  with  the 
pleasant  prospect  of  being  hanged  from  the 
first  convenient  tree.  Silently  they  walked 
for  a  few  moments,  when  the  Skinners  were 
much  surprised  by  hearing  their  victim  burst 
out  laughing.  They  were  curious  as  to  the 
cause  of  his  merriment,  when  he  informed 
them  that  he  was  laughing  because  he  thought 
it  such  a  funny  idea  to  suppose  that  hanging 
him  would  fill  their  pockets.  This  remark 


Ube  "  Heutral 


427 


set  the  robbers  to  thinking  that  there  might 
be  a  little  absurdity  in  what  they  were  doing. 
After  assuring  themselves  that  he  was  not 
shamming  in  regard  to  having  nothing,  they 
let  him  return  to  his  fireside,  much  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  himself  and  family.  In  the  morn- 
ing, he  was  not  much  astonished  that  his  few 
remaining  cattle  were  gone,  but  was,  on  the 
whole,  glad  to  get  off  so  easily. 

A  similar  visit  occurred  at  the  same  mansion 
a  few  years  later,  but  before  the  close  of  the 
war.  A  friend  of  the  family  spent  the  night 
at  the  house  on  his  way  north,  and  upon  part- 
ing the  next  day  left  thirty  pounds  in  coin  in 
charge  of  the  daughter  of  the  farmer,  think- 
ing perhaps  that  it  would  be  less  unsafe  in 
her  possession  than  on  the  highway.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  everything  was  reasonably  quiet 
around  the  place  during  the  remainder  of  the 
day,  but  shortly  after  nightfall,  a  small  party 
of  Cowboys  (for  they  were  Cowboys  this 
time)  was  observed  approaching.  The  young 
woman  immediately  concealed  the  money 
about  her  person,  and  putting  on  a  bold  front 
prepared  to  receive  them.  Soon  they  entered, 
but  instead  of  demanding  valuables  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  they  went  immediately  up  to  the 
girl  and  asked  for  the  money  that  had  been 
given  her  that  morning.  She,  of  course,  de- 
nied that  she  had  any,  whereupon  one  of  the 
marauders  seized  her  and  shook  her  so  vio- 


H  partg 

of  Cow= 

bo'se 

Uistt  tbe 

same 

t>otne= 
3tca5 


428 


TIbe  "  IReutral  (BrounD" 


trbe 

fcefferts' 
Mansion 


lently  that  the  bag  of  money  fell  upon  the 
floor;  the  man  instantly  let  go  of  her,  picked 
up  the  gold  and  departed,  followed  by  his 
companions.  It  was  never  known  how  they 
became  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  the 
money  was  in  the  house,  but  it  was  always 
suspected  that  one  or  more  of  the  band  must 
have  been  looking  in  the  window  when  the 
young  woman  received  it. 

It  becomes  unavoidable,  in  writing  of  the 
Revolutionary  occurrences  of  this  locality,  to 
change  the  scenes  constantly,  as  there  was 
no  connected  campaign  or  regular  army  in  the 
vicinity  after  Howe  drove  the  Federalists  from 
Chatterton  Heights.  There  was  only  a  series 
of  events  entirely  independent  of  each  other. 
Somewhat  nearer  Kingsbridge  than  the  home- 
stead visited  by  the  Skinners  and  the  Cowboys, 
stood  the  Lefferts'  mansion,  which,  unlike  the 
other,  was  deserted  by  its  proprietor,  who, 
probably  being  a  loyalist,  had  fled  to  the  city. 
At  all  events  he  wrote  a  very  queerly  worded 
petition  to  Congress  from  New  York  City, 
which  ran  somewhat  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Continental  Congress  &c. 

"MOST  RESPECTED  SIRS  : 

"Will  your  Honorable  Body  grant  a  pass  for  my  two 
children  to  leave  my  mansion  in  Westchester  County,  and 
proceed  to  meet  me  in  New  York  City.  The  house  above 
referred  to  is,  or  of  late  was,  occupied  by  thirty  men  in  the 
Colonial  service,  who  have  eaten  all  the  horned  cattle, 
sheep  and  pigs,  and  driven  nigh  unto  death  all  the  horses; 


IReutral 


429 


and  I  now  fear  for  my  children  confined  in  the  house;  and 
1  would  therefore  humbly  beseech  your  Honorable  Body  to 
grant  a  pass  for  the  said  children  and  such  servants  as  may 
be  deemed  necessary  to  their  safety  in  the  present  unsettled 
condition  of  the  country.  With  the  Greatest  Respect  Your 
Most  Obedient  and  Humble  Servant, 

"  DIRCK  LEFFERTS." 

Now,  in  reading  this,  the  question  that  one 
naturally  asks  is,  did  he  fear  the  children  were 
to  be  eaten,  or  driven  to  death  ? 

Again  we  change  the  scene.  It  was  the 
dead  of  winter,  and  the  snow  lay  thick  upon 
the  ground,  when  General  Parsons  collected  a 
force  of  American  troopers  for  a  foraging  ex- 
pedition into  Morrisania.  The  party  of  a 
hundred  or  more,  desiring  to  be  as  silent  as 
possible,  to  avoid  a  conflict  with  the  Royal 
Refugees  under  Colonel  De  Lancey,  were  all 
put  into  sleighs  and  driven  rapidly  through 
Morrisania  Manor  towards  Kingsbridge.  No 
merry  jingle  of  bells  in  this  sleighing  party; 
no  laugh,  no  sound  save  the  grim  click  of  a 
musket's  lock,  or  the  rattle  of  the  officers'  side 
arms.  On  and  on  they  sped  over  the  silent, 
yielding  snow,  until  their  goal  was  almost 
reached,  when  suddenly  an  order  rang  out 
loud  and  clear  upon  the  frosty  air  of  midnight, 
and  on  all  sides,  like  spectres  from  their  graves, 
appeared  armed  and  mounted  men.  Undis- 
mayed for  a  time,  the  Americans  defended 
their  sleighs  with  courage,  almost  with  des- 
peration, but  the  Light  Horse  were  too  nu- 


$  ate  of  a 
jforaging 

ErpcM= 
ttou 


43° 


Ube  "Heutral  Ground" 


Banquet 
attbe 

Orabam 
Mansion 


merous  for  them,  and  ere  long  they  were  cut 
to  pieces  or  captured. 

Before  the  retreat  of  the  Americans  north- 
ward the  Westchester  Church  was  used  by 
General  Heath  as  a  hospital,  and  he  quartered 
a  number  of  his  cavalry  in  the  rectory,  while 
the  unfortunate  rector,  being  a  Royalist,  was 
compelled  to  hide  in  a  neighbor's  stable. 

The  Wilkins  family  did  much  to  protect  the 
English  clergy  during  the  war.  Being  strong 
Tories  they  threw  open  their  house,  and  even 
had  a  secret  closet  in  the  chimney,  where 
several  were  hidden  safely  when  searched  for 
by  the  Colonial  troops.  The  Graham  house 
was  burned  by  accident  during  a  magnificent 
banquet,  given  by  Colonel  Fowler,  of  the 
British  army,  who  was  using  it  as  his  temporary 
headquarters.  The  table  had  been  covered 
with  flowers  and  beautifully  decorated  with 
cut-glass  and  silver,  and  the  guests,  many  of 
whom  were  ladies,  were  strolling  about  the 
grounds  in  the  balmy  summer  evening,  when 
a  servant  suddenly  rushed  from  the  house 
and  informed  the  Colonel  that  the  building  was 
burning.  That  officer,  not  in  the  least  dis- 
composed, calmly  ordered  the  tables  brought 
out  on  the  lawn,  and  seated  the  company, 
who  watched  the  conflagration  while  enjoy- 
ing their  repast.  The  cool  and  gallant  Col- 
onel was  unfortunately  killed  in  a  skirmish, 
very  soon  after  this  event. 


Ubc  "IReutral  Ground"  43 i 


The  skirmishes  between  the  Light  Horse  of 
the  two  armies  were  entirely  too  numerous 

J  between 

and  too  barren  of  permanent  result  to  chron- 
icle  in  their  entirety.  One  or  two  more,  how- 
ever,  to  show  the  general  character  of  these 
expeditions  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

Colonel  Burr,  afterwards  so  famous,  or, 
rather,  infamous,  as  the  slayer  of  Hamilton, 
destroyed  Colonel  De  Lancey's  blockhouse, 
after  a  slight  skirmish.  The  Colonel  secretly 
approached  the  building  in  the  night  with 
quite  a  large  number  of  men,  threw  a  hand- 
grenade  into  the  building,  setting  it  on  fire 
and  killing  a  number  of  men.  Most  of  the 
rest  were  captured  while  attempting  to  es- 
cape. 

At  the  time  of  Washington's  retreat  before 
White  Plains,  a  series  of  forts  and  earthworks 
were  erected  from  the  East  River  to  the  Hud- 
son across  Morrisania  and  the  lower  part  of 
the  present  city  of  Yonkers.  After  their  de- 
sertion by  the  Continentals,  these  works  were 
often  utilized  by  both  parties  in  their  expe- 
ditions against  each  other,  and  held  for  longer 
or  shorter  periods  of  time  as  might  be  advis- 
able. General  Heath,  of  the  American  forces, 
often  occupied  them,  as  did  Lincoln  and  many 
another  Continental  commander,  and  on  the 
British  side,  Simcoe,  Tarleton,  and  Colonel 
James  De  Lancey  made  favorite  resorts  of 
them. 


43  2 


ttbe  "Beutral  Orounfc" 


Shtr= 
misbes 
between 
the  1Ewo 
Hrmief 


At  one  time  the  American  forces,  in  con- 
siderable strength,  advanced  to  Kingsbridge 
and  took  up  their  position  for  some  time  be- 
hind newly  made  earthworks.  The  sentries 
annoyed  each  other  by  continual  firing,  though 
it  was  against  the  orders  of  both  armies  by  an 
agreement  between  their  officers.  As  time 
passed,  however,  the  men  were  better  con- 
trolled on  both  sides,  and  became  more  accus- 
tomed to  each  other's  presence,  until  finally 
the  British  put  a  raw  Scotch  recruit  on  guard, 
who  immediately  discharged  his  gun  at  the 
American  sentry  across  the  stream,  who  as 
quickly  replied,  and  wounded  an  officer  who 
happened  to  be  standing  near.  This  brought 
out  the  guard  and  its  commander,  who  called 
across  the  river,  "I  thought  we  had  agreed 
not  to  have  any  more  of  that  business."  The 
Continental  replied,  "Your  man  began  it." 
"  What !  this  Scotchman  ?  he  shall  be  pun- 
ished "  :  and  in  future  there  was  no  more 
firing.  In  fact  the  sentries  became  so  amica- 
ble after  a  while  that  they  would  talk  to- 
gether, and  even  exchange  pipes,  tobacco, 
etc.,  by  tying  them  to  stones  and  throwing 
them  across  the  creek. 

Out  of  the  British  works  at  Kingsbridge 
often  rode  Colonel  Simcoe  and  Colonel  Tarle- 
ton  on  expeditions  against  the  "Rebels." 
Sometimes  success  attended  their  efforts,  and 
at  others  they  were  fruitless.  On  at  least  one 


Ube  "IReutral  (Brounfc" 


433 


of  these  occasions  they  were  accompanied  by 
Prince  William  Henry  (Duke  of  Clarence), 
afterwards  William  IV.  of  England  (1782). 
He  was  then  a  junior  officer  in  the  navy. 
Just  above  Manhattan  Island,  on  the  Albany 
Pike,  stood  the  "Old  French  Inn,"  kept  by 
Gainos,  who  served  many  distinguished  peo- 
ple in  his  day,  as  they  travelled  northward  in 
the  old  mail  coach.  When  the  war  broke 
out  and  the  American  army  was  in  that  vicin- 
ity, many  of  the  officers  frequented  the  tavern, 
and  even  the  commander  (who  was  very 
fond  of  French  cooking)  often  dined  there, 
and  is  said  to  have  become  quite  fond  of  the 
dishes  of  Gainos.  At  all  events,  when  the 
Continentals  retired  northward,  the  poor 
Frenchman  thought  the  British  would  mal- 
treat him  for  having  fed  the  rebels,  and  he, 
therefore,  left  his  inn  in  charge  of  some  neigh- 
bors, and  fled  with  Washington's  army. 

The  first  night  after  the  landlord's  departure 
the  house  was  attacked  by  a  party  of  Cow- 
boys, who  evidently  thought  the  place  practi- 
cally deserted.  In  this  supposition  it  happened 
that  they  were  mistaken,  for  a  number  of  the 
country  people  had  collected  in  the  tavern  as 
was  their  wont,  in  spite  of  the  absence  of  the 
proprietor,  to  gossip  over  the  exciting  condi- 
tion of  affairs.  When  they  saw  the  band  of 
robbers  they  determined  to  defend  the  place, 
and  as  few  people  went  out  at  night  in  those 


be  "©IB 
Jprencb 
Unn" 


434 


fleutral  (BrounO" 


Ube  "©16 
Jfrencb 
Inn" 


troublous  times  unarmed,  they  were  all  in  pos- 
session of  weapons  of  some  kind.  Therefore 
when  the  marauders  demanded  admittance  to 
the  house,  they  were  much  surprised  to  be 
received  by  a  shower  of  bullets,  and  soon 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  wisest  thing 
for  them  to  do  was  to  leave  the  vicinity  as 
rapidly  as  possible. 

So  the  Cowboys  picked  up  one  of  their 
number  who  had  been  hit,  and  proceeded 
through  the  meadows,  woods,  and  orchards, 
for  they  seldom  followed  the  roads,  towards 
Kingsbridge.  They  had  not  gone  far  when 
they  discovered  that  their  wounded  com- 
panion was  dying  from  the  effects  of  his  in- 
juries. This  discovery  made  a  halt  necessary; 
they  laid  the  poor  fellow  down  on  a  grassy 
bank  in  an  old  orchard,  and  seated  them- 
selves, waiting  for  him  to  breathe  his  last. 
They  were  not  delayed  long,  for  after  a  few 
gasps  his  blood-stained  soul  departed.  Small 
ceremony  sufficed  for  the  poor  fellow's  fun- 
eral ;  the  man  who  happened  to  be  nearest 
simply  said  :  "It 's  all  over  with  him  ;  let  's 
be  moving,  or  more  of  us  may  get  the  same 
pill."  Then  they  picked  up  the  body  again, 
as  it  might  serve  to  track  them  to  their  fast- 
ness should  they  leave  it  where  it  lay,  and 
carried  it  to  a  well  that  happened  to  be  under 
one  of  the  trees  ;  there  they  let  the  poor 
wretch  fall  into  the  water,  and  he  was  soon 


ZTbe  "IReutral  <3rounfc"  435 

lost  to  sight,  after  which  they  proceeded  on 
their  way. 

The  next  day  some  of  the  residents  came 
for  water  and  were  horrified  to  find  the  liquid 
stained  with  blood,  and  to  this  day  the  spot  is 
called  the  bloody  well.  Many  are  the  tales 
that  are  told  of  supernatural  sights  and  sounds 
that  emanate  from  the  locality.  As  to  the 
truth  of  the  ghostly  part  of  the  occurrences, 
we  are  unable  to  say,  but  certain  it  is  that 
even  as  recently  as  our  own  times,  the  mould- 
ering remains  of  a  man  were  taken  from  the 
well.  Let  us  hope  that  the  removal  and 
decent  interment  of  the  body  also  quieted  the 
restless  soul. 

Once  more  the  scene  changes,  not  much  as 
to  locality,  but  radically  as  to  events.  The 
brave  but  unfortunate  Stockbridge  Indians 
had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Colonies,  and 
came  down  through  Yonkers  nearly  to  Kings- 
bridge  on  an  expedition  against  Simcoe's 
forces.  That  officer  having  got  wind  of  the 
enemy's  approach,  at  once  prepared  to  give 
them  a  warm  reception.  Selecting  a  well- 
wooded  portion  of  the  road  he  concealed 
most  of  his  troops  on  both  sides  of  it  ;  then  he 
sent  a  small  party  of  cavalry  northward  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  the  Indians.  They  had 
not  far  to  go  ;  for  soon  they  descried  them  si- 
lently advancing  in  single  file  as  is  the  wont 
of  these  sons  of  the  forest ;  but  long  before 


436 


Ube  "  IReutral  <3rounfc  " 


•Cbc 
Defeat 
of  the 


btlSgc 


the  troopers  had  discovered  their  swarthy  foes 
the  sharp  eyes  of  the  Indians  had  seen  the 
horsemen  and  prepared  for  action.  As  was 
planned,  the  British  horse  only  skirmished 
lightly  and  then  fell  back,  the  Indians  follow- 
ing them  in  hot  pursuit,  until  they  were 
within  the  ambush,  where  over  forty,  out 
of  a  total  of  sixty,  were  killed  or  captured. 
When  the  old  chief  saw  the  situation  he 
shouted:  "  Save  yourselves,  my  children  ;  my 
time  has  come  and  I  am  ready,"  and  he  fell 
dead  with  a  bullet  in  his  heart.  This  leader  was 
quite  a  well-known  man  for  one  of  his  race, 
having  visited  England  and  been  presented 
at  court.  He  could  read  and  write  fluently 
and  had  a  very  good  idea  of  history. 

To  show  what  a  crude  idea  the  British  min- 
istry had  of  the  topography  of  this  country,  it 
may  not  be  out  of  way  here  to  insert  an  order 
received  by  Lord  Admiral  Howe  : 

' '  As  the  County  of  Westchester  is  in  a  very  unsettled  con- 
dition, and  our  troops  are  much  harrassed  by  the  '  Rebels,' 
whenever  in  that  vicinity,  you  will  send  a  couple  of  frigates 
up  the  Bronx  River,  to  protect  our  forces  and  fire  into  the 
enemy  whenever  seen." 

Now  as  this  stream  has  an  average  breadth 
of  about  seventy-five  feet  and  a  depth  in  some 
places  of  not  more  than  eighteen  inches,  it 
might  have  troubled  his  lordship  to  obey  this 
command.  Did  they  confuse  this  river  with 
the  Hudson  ? 


'Gbe  "IReutral  <3rount>" 


437 


In  1778,  Colonel  Gist  of  the  Continental 
army  occupied  quarters  near  the  Babcock 
mansion,  where  then  resided  Mrs.  Babcock, 
the  handsome  widow  of  the  Rev.  Luke  Bab- 
cock, and  it  was  whispered  that  the  gallant 
Colonel  had  selected  this  locality  for  his  com- 
mand, which  was  much  nearer  the  enemy's 
line  than  was  at  all  safe  or  advisable  for  so 
small  a  force,  that  he  might  pay  his  addresses 
to  this  fair  widow.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Simcoe  got  wind  of  his  where- 
abouts in  some  way,  and  resolved  upon  the 
capture  of  the  entire  command.  He  therefore 
sent  out  his  forces  at  night  to  surround  the 
encampment  of  Gist.  His  plan  apparently 
succeeded  perfectly  ;  the  Americans  were  not 
in  any  way  disturbed  until  the  enemy  sup- 
posed they  had  entirely  surrounded  their  in- 
tended victims.  The  Colonel  himself  was 
oblivious  of  all  outside  events,  for  never  had 
the  beautiful  widow  been  more  engaging,  and 
never  had  he  remained  at  her  house  so  late. 
But  all  evenings  however  enchanting,  must 
come  to  an  end,  and  this  one  was  no  excep- 
tion ;  so  finally  he  bade  his  fair  friend  adieu 
and  started  for  his  camp.  Just  as  he  was  de- 
parting reluctantly,  looking  back  as  he  went 
to  see  her  waving  a  final  farewell  with  her 
handkerchief,  he  heard  a  shot  quickly  followed 
by  a  scattering  volley.  Forgetting  instantly 
his  romance,  he  rushed  rapidly  to  where  his 


TTbe 

Encounter 

between 

Colonel 

Gist 

ant>  tbe 

moralists 


438 


Ube  "IReutral 


Ube 

Encounter 

between 

Colonel 

©1st 

ano  tbe 

•finalists 


men  were  quartered  ;  there  he  found  every- 
thing in  the  direst  confusion.  Barring  his 
weakness  for  the  widow,  the  Colonel  was  a 
good  soldier  and  soon  restored  a  semblance  of 
order  even  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  He  took 
in  the  situation  at  a  glance  and  resolved  to 
fight  his  way  to  the  main  army  northward. 
It  is  very  doubtful  if  he  would  have  been  able 
to  do  this,  however,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact 
that  one  of  the  enemy's  commands  had  lost 
its  way  and  thereby  left  a  passage  open  for 
him,  which  he  was  not  slow  to  use.  He 
therefore  reached  his  friends,  not  indeed 
without  fighting,  but  with  the  loss  of  only 
about  one  third  of  his  command.  How  his 
affairs  prospered  with  the  widow  after  this 
interruption  we  know  not  ;  but  let  us  hope 
that  if  he  again  ventured  in  that  quarter,  he 
did  not  involve  his  entire  command  in  this 
sort  of  a  conquest. 

When  the  Skinners  and  the  Cowboys  were 
struggling  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  "Neutral 
Ground,"  and  shortly  after  one  of  the  scions  of 
one  of  our  old  county  families  had  been  shot 
down  while  standing  under  a  walnut  tree"  near 
the  door  of  his  mansion  by  one  of  these  gen- 
try7 for  refusing  to  blacken  his  boots,  the  peo- 
ple found  it  necessary  to  bury  all  valuables 
which  they  chanced  to  possess  to  escape  these 
marauders  from  both  sides. 

One  day  it  was  whispered  abroad  that  a 


Heutral  <3rount>"  439 


rather  stronger  party  of  Skinners  than  usual 

was  about  to  visit  the  district  of  lower  East-  . 

Cburcb 

Chester.  Several  of  the  people  came  together, 
unhung  the  bell  of  the  "Old  East  Chester 
Church,"  filled  it  with  money  and  other  valu- 
ables and  buried  it.  Among  these  individuals 
were  two  brothers  named  Wilson.  One  of 
these  young  men,  Harry,  was  a  drunken, 
worthless  chap,  who  had  caused  the  death  of 
his  beautiful  and  devoted  wife  by  his  brutality, 
while  the  other  seems  to  have  been  a  very 
respectable  member  of  society.  Some  time 
after  the  visit  of  the  before-mentioned  party 
of  Skinners,  both  brothers  (who  were  not  on 
good  terms)  by  a  strange  coincidence  resolved 
to  dig  up  the  bell  and  procure  the  treasure  on 
the  same  night.  Harry,  whose  wife  had  re- 
cently died,  came  to  the  spot  first,  with  the 
necessary  tools,  and  also  a  bottle  of  his  never- 
failing  companion,  brandy.  The  night  was 
dark  and  cold,  and  the  winter  wind  sighed  in 
the  old  apple-tree  over  his  head  as  he  struck 
the  first  blow  upon  the  frozen  ground  with 
his  pick.  The  work  was  severe  as  the 
ground  was  hard  from  frost,  but  with  the  aid 
of  many  a  pull  upon  the  black  bottle,  he  soon 
had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  the  pick  ring 
upon  the  metal  of  the  bell.  After  cleaning  out 
the  dirt  a  little  and  taking  a  look  at  the  precious 
things  within,  he  sat  down  to  rest  and  finish 
the  last  of  the  contents  of  his  beloved  bottle. 


440 


IReutral  Ground" 


tlbe 
HBurieb 
Cburcb 

Bell 


He  had  hardly  done  this  and  sent  the  empty 
vessel  crashing  amongst  the  stones  and  debris 
of  the  excavation,  when  he  thought  he  saw  a 
light  approaching.  He  took  an  instant  to  as- 
sure himself  he  was  not  mistaken,  then  put 
out  his  own  lantern  and  stepped  behind  a  tree 
to  await  his  visitor.  In  a  few  moments  he 
saw  his  brother,  pick  in  hand,  advance  to  the 
spot,  and  heard  him  exclaim:  "What!  some- 
body has  been  here  before  me,  but  they  must 
have  left  hurriedly,  for  nothing  is  taken." 
Harry  waited  no  longer,  but  stepping  from 
behind  the  tree,  informed  his  brother  that  his 
time  had  come,  and  suiting  his  action  to  his 
words,  seized  his  unfortunate  victim  by  the 
throat.  For  a  time  they  struggled,  but  the  first 
comer,  made  strong  by  drink  and  frenzy,  soon 
conquered,  and  left  his  opponent  dead  upon 
the  ground.  The  next  morning  a  neighbor  dis- 
covered the  remains,  but  the  murderer  was 
never  seen  again.  Strange  to  say,  however,  he 
only  took  from  the  bell  just  what  belonged  to 
him,  leaving  the  rest  as  he  had  found  it. 

The  remains  of  the  murdered  man  were 
buried  in  the  old  churchyard  from  which  the 
bell  was  taken,  and  a  few  days  later  his 
fiancee,  who  had  died  from  the  shock  of  the 
news,  was  laid  by  his  side.  The  bell  was 
soon  replaced  in  the  church  tower,  and 
rings  out  each  Sunday  morning,  as  it  has  done 
since  the  time  of  good  Queen  Anne.  It  is 


Heutral  Orounfc" 


441 


said  that  upon  every  anniversary  of  this  hor- 
rible event  the  bell  tolls,  and  suppressed 
groans  are  heard  in  the  time-honored  tower.8 

One  evening  an  old  Indian,  the  last  of  his 
race,  sat  at  the  door  of  his  wigwam  watching 
the  fading  rays  of  the  chill  October  sun  disap- 
pear from  the  western  sky,  when  two  rough- 
looking  men  and  a  dog  crossed  the  farther 
end  of  the  clearing.  The  chief,  whose  head 
the  ashes  of  time  had  long  since  whitened, 
recognized  the  newcomers  at  once  to  be 
members  of  a  band  of  Skinners,  supposed 
some  mischief  might  be  brewing,  and  re- 
solved to  follow  the  miscreants.  They  led 
him  across  a  brook  and  through  the  woods, 
until  they  came  to  a  small  hut  where  a  third 
member  of  the  band  was  making  a  fire.  The 
Indian  secreted  himself  in  some  bushes  within 
hearing  and  awaited  events.  One  of  the  men 
whom  he  had  followed  hailed  the  man  by  the 
fire  and  said : 

"Did  you  get  the  girl,  Paul?" 

"Yes,  she  is  in  the  hut." 

"  Did  she  tell  where  the  old  man's  money 
was  buried?" 

"No." 

"Then  she  must  die.     Bring  her  out." 

The  man  called  Paul  disappeared  within  the 
hut,  and  soon  returned  leading  a  terrified  but 
still  beautiful  young  girl,  whom  the  ruffians 
tied  to  a  tree  and  then  prepared  to  shoot. 


HnQfc 

UnMan's 

•Rescue  of 

a  L'oung 

Oirl 


442 


TIbe  "IReutral  (3roun&" 


lln  Oft 


•(Rescue  of 
a  Koung 

<3frl 


"I  will  give  you  one  more  chance,"  said 
the  man  who  appeared  to  be  the  leader. 
"Tell  us  where  the  money  lies  buried." 

"I  know  of  no  money,"  was  the  faint, 
gentle  answer. 

"Then  prepare  to  die.     One — two — 

He  raised  his  gun  to  fire  at  the  word  three, 
but  before  he  could  utter  it  the  unerring  aim 
of  the  Indian  had  sent  a  bullet  through  his 
heart,  and  before  his  companions  could  re- 
cover from  their  surprise  the  old  chief  rushed 
in  with  knife  and  tomahawk  and  despatched 
them  both.  He  picked  up  the  poor  girl,  who 
had  fainted,  and  carried  her  to  his  wigwam, 
where  she  was  soon  revived.  The  poor  old 
man,  however,  perished  at  the  battle  of  White 
Plains  while  fighting  gallantly  in  the  Colonial 
army.8 

But  our  tales  are  finished,  and  the  "Neutral 
Ground"  is  neutral  no  longer.  The  great  city 
has  stretched  out  its  long  arms  and  encircled 
it  in  its  grasp.  The  days  of  the  Cowboy  and 
the  Skinner  are  over.  The  British  soldier  and 
his  Hessian  ally  are  seen  no  more.  Clinton, 
Howe,  Washington,  and  Lee,  all  sleep  with 
their  fathers,  and  the  drum  and  the  bugle  of 
the  Revolution  are  silent. 

"  Soldier  rest,  thy  warfare  o'er, 

Sleep  the  sleep  that  knows  no  breaking; 
Dream  of  battle-fields  no  more, 
Days  of  danger,  nights  of  waking." 


ZTbe  "IReutral  Orouufc" 


443 


NOTES  AND  REFERENCES. 

1.  The  name  is  taken  from   Jonas  Broncks,  one  of  the 

early  proprietors  of  the  district. 

2.  The  original  owner  of  the  property  was  Throgmorton. 

Throg's  Neck  is  a  corruption  of  Throgmorton's 
Neck. 

3.  Thomas  Pell  was  the  first  proprietor. 

4.  The  shot  was  fired  by  Lieutenant  Paddock. 

5.  We  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  there  was  a  thermometer 

as  we  understand  it. 

6.  Some  thirty  years  ago  this  tree  was  cut  down  by  the 

proprietor.  Some  of  the  wood  has  come  into  the 
possession  of  the  writer,  through  a  relative  to  whom 
it  was  given.  It  now  forms  a  couple  of  book-cases. 

7.  Some  writers  state  that  a  Hessian   officer  committed 

this  deed,  but  we  think  the  Cowboy  version  is  cor- 
rect. 

8.  The  last  two  anecdotes  were  told  to  the  writer  by  Mr. 

William  L.  Stone,  the  historian. 
R.  A.   BOLTON'S  History  of  the  County  of  Westchester. 

New  York,  1848. 

GENERAL  HEATH'S  Memoirs.     Boston,  1 798. 
Itinerary  of  General  Washington,  from  June  15,  1775,  to 

December  23,  178}.     Philadelphia,  1892. 
COLONEL  JOHN  THOMAS  SCHARF'S  History  of  Westchester 

Comity,  New  York.     Philadelphia,   1886. 
Works  and  Documents  of  William  L.  Stone. 
JOHN  FISKE'S  American  Revolution^    Boston,  1891. 
WILLIAM  WATSON   WALDRON'S  Huguenots  of  Westchester. 

New  York,  1864. 
Guide  to  New  Rochelle  (1842). 

Papers  on  Yonkers,  by  HENRY  B.  DAWSON  (26  copies  printed 
for  private  circulation  only.)     Yonkers,  1866. 


ant) 
•References 


UCSB    LIBRARY 


